I am posting this on behalf of my friend, Benji. I was not 
responsible for this 'fic in any way. All C&C, MSTs or Flames can be 
posted on the list, to me or to Benji, who has included her address. 
Enjoy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A fanfic by me, which will probably never get finished unless I tie
myself to this machine. For no good reason, I have decided to call it
(drumroll please) Catching the Butterfly. Well, I actually called it
this because the idea hit me while I was actually trying to catch a
butterfly and got stung by a bee. Then my mum brought me an ice cream
to make me feel better. I never did catch that blasted little
butterfly either. Then I realised how much it hurts sometimes when you
try to get the things you want, but even if you don't get it, there
are other things around to make you happy. That's enough from memory
lane - now for the fic! I intend to take Ranma 1/2, mix it with Oh, My
Goddess, add a bit of Sailor Moon, a sprinkling of Magical Girl Pretty
Sammy and probably a few other things which I probably won't be able
to identify/ remember. It'll be around GN 12, which I have just
received, so there is no Konatsu or Akari and I hate those two anyway.
^_^ So I'm going to force myself .... willpower ... must type ... must
type .... nnghnhg ... I will do this! And this is now my third
sleepless night of typing! (Yes, the days were sleepless too!) What
dedication! And if I drink any more caffeine I'll go bananas. If this
starts to get weird near the end, I'll probably be up to about ten
sleepless nights and talking to God.

General disclaimer - All characters were stolen from Ruminko
Takahashi. I think I also stole a few from Naoko Takeuchi, Hitoshi
Okuda and whoever writes Hyperdolls. (Shinpei Itoh - I just found
out.) And a lot of quotes I pinched from Friends and Red Dwarf. Most
sorry. I am but a poor, penniless student and I wouldn't be able to
afford the legal fees if I got sued for this, so imagine me sobbing on
the floor, pleading for mercy with my best puppy-dog-eyes look,
pulling an Academy award winning performance that would bring tears to
the eyes of even the most heartless of heartless bastards ... (Excuse
me. Sometimes I can get carried away.)

CATCHING THE BUTTERFLY VOL 1
When the things you want are always just out of reach.

===================================
PROLOGUE
Lightning never strikes twice. 
And if you're lucky, it doesn't even strike once.
===================================

The old man looked at the side of his house in despair. Filling most
of the wall was a large hole, directly opposite the other wall with a
big hole in it. What had he done to deserve this, he thought sadly. He
couldn't think of any gods he might have annoyed that week, and
anything that was bad enough to be punished with a windhole in the
middle of his house was something he was sure he'd remember. He sighed
and picked up the telephone. The insurance company would never believe
this. It was the only building on the mountaintop. They'd never buy
it. Why would a guy just walk straight through his poor house, leaving
large holes to give the cat nightmares, instead of going around it? It
just wasn't fair.

Ryoga stopped and checked the map again. He'd figured out, that if he
carried on walking in the direction he was going, in a dead straight
line, he eventually get to the Tendo Dojo. *Pity there's so many
buildings in the way* he thought. He could've gone around them, but
knew from experience that he'd walk all the way around the building
and back along the path he'd come from. Yeah, so it wasn't very fair
to home owners, but ... He squinted at the map. *It's getting hard to
read this thing now ... guess it's time to pitch my tent.* He
continued walking until he reached a good spot. The air crackled with
electricity, warning Ryoga that a storm was coming, and if he didn't
want the old man to get his revenge by serving up roast pork chops ala
P-chan, he'd better get a move on. He pulled his tent kit out of his
pack. "Aww great! Just my luck!" He glared ferociously at the tangled
guy ropes and set about trying to disentangle it. The result was
rather like watching an octopus eat spaghetti. Looking up at the sky
fearfully, he eventually managed it and yanked a few metal poles out
of his bag. 

*Note: Electric charge may be deposited on an object only by
transferring charge to it from some other piece of material. Friction
can separate small quantities of electric charge. By rubbing two
materials together, electrons may be transferred from the atoms of one
material to those of the other, if the second material has a greater
affinity for electrons than the first. Spectacular (and pretty
dangerous) results of the transfer of electric charge occur in
lightning. Here, an electrically charged cloud suddenly discharges,
generating a current which passes through the air, raising it to very
high temperatures. This causes both the flash of lightning and a
shockwave of pressure changes in the air, producing the sound of
thunder. The energy used in charging up the cloud initially is drawn
from the atmosphere.

*Note: Lightning is electricity. Metal conducts electricity. Lightning
+ metal tent poles = big bang, big flash of light, lots of pain and
possible death. You have been warned. No longer can you use the excuse
"I was asleep when our teacher was showing us that video."

End Prologue.
Final song - Walking In A Hurricane

============================
PART I
The good, the bad and the other one.
============================

"... ouch ..." Ryoga's eyes flicked open and a groan escaped him. *I
should've dealt with the poles first...* He sat up slowly and assessed
how much damage had been done to him. "Drat." As predicted, he was
covered in burns. He'd need a quick dip in cold water to ease the
pain. Shame cold water had such an adverse affect on him, or he'd
actually relish the thought. Climbing slowly to his feet, he looked
around. His tent was a write off, he noted sadly. A few charred scraps
of material were all that remained. Trees were now little lumps of
charcoal and the ground was totally black. His eyes widened in shock
at the extent of the destruction. *Wow! I'm lucky to be alive!* 
A figure lying a few meters away from him caught his eye. *Guess I'd
better check he's been as lucky.* He walked over and knelt down next
to the person and rolled them over to face him. "Hey, are
yo....ahhhhhhhhhhh!!" He jumped back in shock. Well, so would you, if
you were suddenly confronted by your own face without even looking in
a mirror. "Ohmygod!! I'm dead! I'm dead and I've just turned over my
body!" He covered his mouth with his hand in shock. "But I can't be
dead ... ghosts can't feel pain ... or can they?.... So I'm a ghost?!"
" .... owwww ... that hurts ...." Ryoga fell over in shock as his body
sat up and shook his head to clear it. His doppelganger looked over at
him, seeing him for the first time. "Oh dear."
"What do you mean, 'oh dear'? You can see me?" Ryoga stared at
himself.
"Of course I can see you, you're not dead or anything." The other
Ryoga grinned at him. "We stopped that happening. How do you feel?"
Ryoga blinked. "How do I feel? HOW DO I FEEL?!!" He grabbed his double
by the throat. "I have been struck by lightning. My possessions are
destroyed. My body is screaming in agony and I have a new twin! I am
NOT HAVING A GOOD DAY!!!!!�
The double gasped for breath. "Do you think you could let go of me?
I'm in pain too." Reluctantly he did so. His double rubbed his neck.
"Thank you. I suppose you want me to explain myself."
"Yes, that would be nice. But before you do, could we check for other
me's? Then you could all talk at once" Ryoga replied sarcastically.
"Good idea. I didn't think of that." The double stood up looked
around. "Well? Are you going to help me look?"
Ryoga gaped at him. *I'm having a bad dream. Please tell me this is a
dream - I was struck by the lightning and this just a subconscious
thought, but I'll wake up and I'll be in a hospital or lying here but
there'll only be one me and It'll be me because this isn't happening
and it isn't real...*
"Are you going to help me or not?" The double looked at him
enquiringly. "Come on."
Dazedly he followed his other self as he wandered around the disaster
zone. *What if he's real, though?* he though suddenly. *He could be
the real me and maybe I'm a dream person. He's taking control here,
after all.* He shook his head forcibly, willing that thought to go
away. He looked around. "Hey. Over there." He grabbed his copy by the
arm and pointed to the other side of the black crater. They walked
cautiously over to the limp figure lying face down on the ground.
"Yep. That's another" the copy acknowledged cheerfully. "Makes a funny
sort of sense."
Ryoga glared at him. "It makes sense? And what part makes sense? The
part with multiple me's running around all over the place? That
doesn't make any sense to me."
The copy laughed. "He's my opposite. We'll both explain." The other
Ryoga lying on the floor groaned and sat up slowly. "Well, hello. You
OK?"
Ryoga surpressed a snigger as the newest Ryoga grabbed his other self
by the collar and yanked him off the ground. "I do not need your help
and I do not need you. I am fine and you are an irritating little
twerp." He shook the copy a little. "Any arguments?"
The copy kicked the other copy in the stomach and he collapsed with a
groan. "I'm you, you daft idiot. At the moment we all have the same
injuries from that lightning, so don't tell me you don't need my help,
because these burns really HURT!!"
Ryoga sighed. "Please could somebody tell me what's going on?"
The new copy straightened up. "I suppose we could manage that."
The old copy sat down. "It's like this ..."
"We're you, in a strange way. When you got hit by that lightning, ..."
"The gods were rather surprised. You weren't scheduled to die yet but
it was a lethal dose of electricity that would leave you looking worse
than Cologne on a good day ..."
"So they brought us out of your mind so we could share your injuries."
The two copies sat back, looking smug. Ryoga looked from one to the
other. "But who the hell are you?"
The new one replied first. "Well, plucking an example out of the air,
if Akane got really really mad at you, for some reason, part of you
would want to grovel, beg forgiveness and generally be a doormat, even
if you were in the right..."
"Charming." The other one muttered.
"Shut up." The new copy thought for a second. "Where was I? Oh yeah.
Part of you would do that. But another part of you would want to grab
her by the throat, slam her against the wall and tell her to stop
being such a hot-tempered, over-reactive macho tomboy ..."
"Hey! She's not!"
The copy ignored the indignant remark and continued. "We're those two
parts of your personality, like in Oh My Goddess. That dweeb," he
said, indicating the old copy. "Is your Angel half. And I ... " He
paused, thinking for a nice way to put it. " ...Am not," he finished.
"You're my Devil side," Ryoga said glumly.
Angel Ryoga grinned. "Yep! Got it in one. Well, not really devil, just
not nice. If he really was all your concentrated nastiness, do you
really think we'd still be here, alive and - gak!"
Devil Ryoga released his grip on Angel Ryoga's throat. "There's no
need to be so picky!"
"When are you going?" Ryoga asked cautiously
"Going?" Devil Ryoga asked sweetly, looking at him. "Who said anything
about going?"
Ryoga looked at Angel Ryoga. "Seriously?"
Angel Ryoga shrugged. "Nobody actually told us that. I think it's
something to do with you and dying prematurely. "
"So if our injuries heal up you'll go?" Ryoga looked hopefully at his
copy.
Angel Ryoga gulped "Weeeellll, I'm not sure. We might have to stay
until it's ... your time."
"AND HOW LONG WILL THAT BE?!!!!!!"
"We're not allowed to say" Devil Ryoga said calmly. "Let's get some
cold water on these burns."
Ryoga glared at him. "P-chan."
Devil Ryoga glared back. "Yeah? I know. But that's just your problem.
We're not you. We're your personality. We don't transform."
Ryoga reinforced the glare at his Angel and Devil sides. *I'm really
beginning to hate myself ..."

End Part I
Final song - Who Are You

==========================
PART II
Triple trouble and total confusion.
==========================

Akane looked out her window. "Nice day today" she commented aloud.
*Good thing too. I hate having to deal with Ranma getting all tetchy
on rainy days.* She yawned and got ready for school.
"Why, good morning, Akane. Did you sleep well?" Kasumi smiled at her
younger sister. "Breakfast is ready now."
"Thanks Kasumi." Akane smiled at her older sister. She helped herself
to breakfast, while Ranma and Genma sparred outside. Somehow, they
both managed to get to the table in their own forms.
"Hey, thanks Kasumi." Ranma grinned at her. "You're the best cook  ...
I ... know ...." He trailed off slowly and edged away from Akane. "Not
that it means anything" he squeaked.
Akane sighed. "Ranma, you look like you've just been placed on death
row." She continued eating.
Ranma gazed at her for a second. "You're not going to punch me through
the roof?"
"I just have a good feeling about today, that's all."
"What? We have an English test and Happosai's bound to be lurking
around the gym ..."
"Oh, he's back from China?" Kasumi queried.
"Yeah, he's back. He'll be about, then you've got Home Ec class brrr
.."
"JERK!!!"
Kasumi sighed and looked at the hole in the roof. "Oh my. Really,
Akane, was there any need for that?"
Akane glared at her breakfast. "And I thought today was going to be a
good day too."

Ryoga looked around. "Where did they go?" He was referring, of course,
to Angel Ryoga and Devil Ryoga. They'd vanished after getting into an
argument about the map (AR- This is unfair to home owners. DR- You
wanna get to the Dojo or not? R- I think we've missed it. DR- Maybe
the map's wrong. AR- Maybe all the maps are wrong ...). He'd had no
idea how much he argued with himself until he saw it happening. "Damn!
Maybe they'll get to the Dojo but I won't and they'll muck things up
.." He pricked up his ears at the sound of familiar voices.
"I was only tryna apologise! Jeez! I don't know why I bother, you
uncute maniac!"
"Ranma, you are such a jerk! Maybe they were good cookies!"
"Yeah! And maybe one day Kuno'll grow a brain!"
Ryoga sighed. Ranma was always the same. But here was his ticket to
the Dojo. He stepped around the corner. "Hello."
"Ryoga! Hi!" Akane smiled at him. "Nice to see you."
Ranma poked her in the arm. "I thought you had a good feeling about
today."
"Ranma, you are such a JERK!!!" One good kick sent him flying.
*Probably Ranma will go and flirt with all his other fianc�s now, the
jerk.*
"Hey Akane, could you take me to the Dojo?" Ryoga half-smiled at her.
"Of course. I'm just heading there now." She smiled. "It's good to see
you again. So tell me what you've been up to then ..."

Kasumi looked up from the washing up. "Why, hello, Ryoga. Nice to see
you. And where have you been?"
Ryoga grinned. "All over the place really ... do you want some help
with that washing up?"
"Oh, no, that's OK, I'm fine here. You tell me about your travels."
Ryoga thought for a second. *Everyone takes advantage of Kasumi, never
helping her and she never complains, but I bet she doesn't get any
rest.* "Tell you what. You sit down with a cup of tea. I'll do the
washing up and tell you about my travels."
Kasumi smiled. "Very well, if you insist." She sat down with a small
sigh of relief. "I must say, it's nice to have people offer to help
once in a while. I'm touched."
Ryoga smiled back. "You're welcome." *It's nice to have someone
appreciate my help ... why doesn't my other self help Kasumi out once
in a while ... oh well, must be the Devil in him. He's too busy
running around screaming 'Ranma prepare to die' to help out...*

Nabiki turned around as she heard footfalls behind her. "Oh, hey,
Ryoga."
"Nabiki." Ryoga grinned at her. "Can you lead me the way to the Dojo?"
Nabiki thought for a second. "3000 yen."
Ryoga had a dangerous look in his eye. "Now, now, Nabiki. You're going
that way yourself. It's not gonna inconvenience you."
"1500 then."
Much to her surprise, he took two steps forward and gently gripped her
by the throat. "Always wanted to do this. Now, Nabiki, I need to get
to the Dojo, OK? I have absolutely no money whatsoever. And this is
important. Stop screwing me about and grubbing for money, because I
don't have any. Manners don't cost a penny, though I not really one to
talk at the present. I don't need to squeeze, do I?" Nabiki shook her
head numbly.
"Good." Ryoga grinned. "So we have an understanding then?" She nodded.
With a small laugh, he released her. "No need to look like such a
scared little rabbit."
Nabiki rubbed her neck. "I could get you done for that, you know," she
said with a hint of fear in her voice.
"No you can't" he said calmly. "Because one, there is no mark on your
neck, two, there are no witnesses, three, they'd never find me - hell,
I can never find me and four ... can't think of a four at present, but
I'm sure I will. Good enough for you?" 
Nabiki glared at the ground. "S'kay"
"Hmm?"
"I SAID IT'S OK!!" Nabiki set off, stomping as she went along.
Ryoga sniggered. *Cool! She has weaknesses after all. Why didn't my
other self ever confront her? It's kinda fun making her squirm.* He
followed her to the Tendo Dojo. Where there was already a Ryoga. Where
another Ryoga was heading. The Tendo's were in for a shock.

End Part II
Final song - Good Times Bad Times

===================================
PART III
Getting in touch with your female side
you never quite expect her to actually reply.
===================================

"Oh my."
Akane looked at the three Ryoga's in amazement. "This is ...
incredible!"
"Yeah. You two got lucky. I got the Devil one," Nabiki growled. 
Ranma shook his head. "Too, too weird. You musta hit me harder than I
thought."
Akane advanced on him dangerously. "Raaannnnnnmmmmmmaaaaa ...."
Ranma backed away and quickly changed the subject. "Three Ryoga's,
hmm? One good, one bad and one original. How do we tell them all
apart?"
Angel Ryoga grinned. "You could try insulting us and seeing which one
does nothing, which one gets slightly tetchy and which one pounds your
head into the carpet."
Ranma glared at him. "Which one are you?"
"Angel."
"Don't seem like much of an angel to me." 
Ryoga shrugged. "Just goes to show - you can irritate any part of my
personality. Even the part nicer than Mother Teresa. Besides, if they
were completely devil and angel, do you really think the devil one
would've let you live this long?" 
Ranma looked at them all. "Do we call you Angel, Devil and Ryoga, or
what?"
Ryoga shrugged. "That just what I called them. I couldn't be bothered
to think up any names for them."
Akane grinned. "I know ..."
Ranma cut in. "NOT D-chan and A-chan."
"Why you ..."
Nabiki cut in. "Ryoga Angel. R-A. Or maybe Ray. Ryoga Devil. R-D or
Red."
Devil Ryoga sniggered. "Betcha got some other names for me bottled up
in that brain of yours."
"Oh, how did you know?" she said in a sickly sweet voice.
Angel Ryoga cut in quickly. "I prefer R-A."
"Yeah, and I like R-D to Red" Devil Ryoga decided.
"Good." Ranma sighed. "Sure there's only you lot? We don't have to go
through the rest of the alphabet, do we?"
"I think that's all ..." Ryoga said thoughtfully. 
*BANG*
They all spun around a the door flew open. "This is the Tendo Dojo
isn't it?" They all stared at the small girl standing in the doorway. 
"Y-yeah ..." Ranma gulped.
"In that case ..." She stepped forward. She had short black hair and
green eyes and was wearing clothes identical to the three Ryoga's. In
fact, she looked almost exactly like the Ryoga's.
*Noooo ... it can't be!* Ryoga thought in shock. The next words
clinched it though.
"RANMA, PREPARE TO DIE!!!" She launched herself at Ranma, who sat
still in shock for a moment before he actually realised he was under
attack, giving her a chance to land a few blows. Ranma recovered and
punched her as hard as he could. She hit the back wall and lay there
for a moment, stunned, before giving a scream of anger and renewing
her attack.
"Female half?" Akane checked.
"Yeah." R-A thought for a moment before enlightenment dawned. "Of
course! Opposites. I'm R-D's opposite and she's Ryoga's opposite so
now it evens out." He caught Ryoga-chan as she hurtled across the room
again, courtesy of a Ranma kick in the chest. "Now, now, Ryoga-chan.
We need to explain you and make Ranma feel slightly guilty."
"Shouldn't we call her R-C?" Akane asked.
Ryoga-chan sat down. "What for? Ryoga doesn't turn into a girl so
nobody else is gonna react to the name."
"Good point."
Ranma sat down too. "What's that about feeling guilty then?"
R-D smirked. "You don't like fighting girls. Not a nice thing to do."
"Well, yeah. Neither do you. That doesn't stop you attacking me in
female form though, 'cause technically I'm a guy." Ranma smirked the
smirk of the righteous one. "She's another Ryoga and therefore
technically a guy."
Ryoga grinned. "I think I see what's coming ..."
"She is not a guy. At all," R-A pointed out. "She is what Ryoga would
be like if he was a girl. She's feminine most of the time, she has a
girls body all the time, it's not cursed or anything ..."
Now all the Ryoga's wore the smirk of the righteous one while Ranma
wore the scowl of the one being ticked off by the righteous.
Ryoga-chan cut in. "Like them, I have a lousy sense of direction or I
would've gotten here sooner."
"If you're feminine, why are you wearing the same clothes as them?"
Ranma asked.
"Because I haven't had a chance to go shopping. OK?" Ryoga-chan glared
at him. "Besides, they're not the same, they're smaller. Those clothes
would just fall down on me."
Ryoga and R-D stood up. "How dare you attack my female half?!" Ryoga
growled.
"We'll get you, Saotome!" They both advanced on him. 
Ranma ran. He could handle one Ryoga, but two? He didn't want to find
out!
"Speaking of clothes, can we do something about the guys?" Nabiki
questioned. "I don't remember which one is the one I don't like."
"Oh, that would be me." R-D put him hand up. "Yes, I'll get a shirt
with 'AntiNabiki' stitched across it, shall I?"
"Just something different is fine" Akane said quickly.
"What about me?" Ryoga-chan added. "I mean, these clothes are guy
clothes. I didn't choose them. I need to get something practical yet
flattering. These do nothing for me"
"Yes. And we'll pay for all your many fashion accessories with all the
money I didn't give to Nabiki" R-D said sarcastically.
"Hey"
"Joke, Nabiki" Ryoga said calmly. "None of us have any money."
A scraping noise caught their attention. Happosai dragged himself
across the floor. " ...Girlee ...fight ...back ....must splash
something .... with girliewater ....pantieeeeeee ...." He looked at a
spider with a glazed look in his eyes. "Spidergirleeee ...." He lifted
a vial of water and took the lid off.
"What is he doing?" Ryoga-chan whispered. 
"I have no idea" Akane replied.
Happosai suddenly caught sight of Ryoga-chan's reflection in the glass
vial. "PRETTY GIRLIEEE!" he yelled, attaching himself to her.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!" She threw the
old man across the room. The vial of water flew out of his hands ...
Across the room ...
Like a cat always heads towards the only person afraid of/ allergic to
them, so the water sprayed all over the only person in the room with a
Jusenkyo curse following a process known as Murphy's law or more
commonly known as Sod's law ... Ryoga was directly in the path of the
cold water. And Akane was in the room too. 

End  Part III
Final song - Hitch Hiking Woman

Member 30 of SSoAGMA, Deadly Everyday Object Weaponary Technique, Dragon Warrior Style
Mousse no miku; Generally dangerous English otaku
Member of the Chan club; Wos; Head Castrator of the Hotnit Feminisation Project; SOotCiP; Supporter of cliched pairs;
Keeper of the Moneybags for the Hotnit Fan Club; CotMHW - Launderer of the Robes of Death; SLAP;
4th Gen. EOE; Image Consultant For "That Guy"; #WASHU#;AKPReSS, Gen. Div.
____/\____________________________
|___||_____________________________\
    \/