Ranma 1/2: King Of Fighters: "Where's Ranma?"
a storyline in "The Bet" Expansion Set version
http://metroanime.home.mindspring.com/
    Ahem, this is an Expansion Set of a previous
contribution, one that got a fair amount of heat
from certain individuals, still, the vast majority
of response was positive, and this went in a
completely different direction from how DragonBard
is currently taking it, so here it is as a
minific. Note that the Expansion Sets are just
meant to flesh the ideas out a bit (max 100k), and
are no substitute for a nice long continuing
series. There are a couple of semi DARK scenes
here, but they are True Villains and therefore
triumphing over their evil plans actually has some
meaning as a result.
     The i who is i does not own any of these
characters. This is an attempt to be amusing,
throw a temporary light moment's reading into what
is usually bleak Reality, do not confuse this with
Art. The usual hate mail and the like can be
posted to someone@whocares.com while any positive
responses, spare computer parts left over from
your upgrade, and contributions to my Harley fund
are quite welcome to
metroanime@mindspring.com -though after 4/30 i
expect the mailbox to fill up long before i get
phone access again. TTFN!

-Mimir's Well, Rainbow-shi, Asgard-ken, Heaven--
 "Aw c'mon, I think it'd be cool if I just tweaked
Keichii's wish a little bit..."

 "No, Skuld. I said Marller couldn't affect one of
the timelines, even one of those about to remerge
with a mainline, that she was personally involved
in. At least not directly. Same rule applies to
you. Besides, it's not my rule, it came from Him."

 "Oh." Skuld accepted that. Mortals could get away
with arguing with Him, at least better than
Limited Class License goddesses could. With great
power came great problems, usually.

 "Besides, if you wanted to see the results of
that, all you have to do is check out 'Paradigm
Lost' or even Jigen's entry."

 "What did Jigen do?"

 "In _that_ timeline, Keiichi decided that he
really wanted to be popular, so he wished that
'girls like you would find him irresistably
attractive' -wishing this from Belldandy of
course."

 "Well, maybe if I just tweak something like
THIS!" Skuld didn't even want to look at Jigen's
entry, reminding herself that sometimes ignorance
is bliss.

 Toltiir blinked. "You shorted out a navigational
computer?"

 "It was prone to malfunction anyway." Skuld
smiled. "And now...for something completely
different!"
--Jusenkyo, China, 1992 AD-----------------------
 Ranma charged forward, leaping after her father,
currently a panda. The panda slammed
into a large rectangular booth, bounced off, and
continued running as if all the demons of hell
were after him. Having been responsible for
Ranma's upbringing, in this case Father Knew Best.

 Ranma, having no concentration for anything
except the fleeing panda, crashed into a boy who
was walking up to the booth, himself intent on
asking directions from this stranger.

 The inevitable collision and tangle ended up with
three people inside a room that was quite a bit
larger on the inside than it was on the outside.

 Ranma, clutching her head with one hand, put her
other hand down on a certain switch as she got up.

 Genma blinked, watching as the strange booth
slowly faded from view, making an odd
grind-thump noise as it did so. He blinked again.
Realization that he wasn't going to be killed by
his former son was quickly replaced with the
absolute bone-chilling certainty of what would
happen when he told his wife that he'd lost her
son. The best he could expect would be time
spent in the panda breeding program.

 Shrugging, Genma Saotome started back down to the
Guide's hut. With any luck he could
think of a way that he could explain it to his
wife that wouldn't result in seppuku.

 So what was a "Police Call Box" anyway?

---Twilight Empire, Staging Ground, 4400 NE------
 "Rannnnmaaaa!" Ryouga stared where Ranma had been
standing a few moments ago. The catwalk was a
smouldering ruin, with the metal itself burning
from the energy discharge.

 "Come on, Ryouga!" The Doctor pulled at him.
"This won't hold them for very much longer. We've
got to get back to the TARDIS!"

 Casting a last glance back where Ranma had been,
Ryouga followed the Doctor. "Ranma, forgive me..."

 The Doctor ran to the console as soon as both had
reached the TARDIS. Flipping the
switch to close the door, he checked the various
gauges. "Good, self-repairing systems are back
on line."

 "Ranma..."

 "I know, Ryouga." The Doctor sighed. "I saw Ranma
falling, on fire, he...couldn't have
survived."

 "If I hadn't left the TARDIS..." Ryouga looked
miserable. He'd wanted his revenge upon
Ranma, but this...

 "Well, we can at least get you back where YOU are
supposed to be. Since you came from Japan, I
suppose that's where we ought to go. Unless you
had unfinished business in China?"

 "No," Ryouga shook his head. "The only reason I
went to China was pursuing Ranma. Now... let's
just go home."

 Troopers opened fire with energy beams capable of
atomizing plasteel. By the time they reached where
the TARDIS had been, it was long gone.

 Other soldiers surrounded the blackened and
shredded figure on the floor. "Check this out,
he's alive."

 "Damn, after all THAT and without armor." Two
three seven was impressed. Even wearing her armor,
she'd have been hurt.

 A third trooper tapped on a combadge. "Tell the
Lords about this one. We have a prisoner
but he needs immediate medical attention. From
what I've seen, he's got combat potential."

---Twilight Empire, Asagiri Combat Zone, 4612
NE------
 The announcer's voice was a synthetic one, custom
designed based on the latest opinion
polls and translated simultaneously into thirty
major languages as not all species were physically
capable of speaking Galact. "AND HE WINS, AGAIN!
THIS IS INCREDIBLE, GENTLEBEINGS, RANMA SAOTOME OF
PSIMECH INDUSTRIES HAS ONCE AGAIN PROVEN HIS
METTLE IN THE COMBAT ARENA!"

 The crowd at "ringside" howled their approval,
the wolfen literally doing so.

 "Oh, and this brings us to our guest today, Kelar
Shubb of Psimech Industries. Kelar,
what of these rumors that after 110 years of use,
you are ready to retire Saotome?"

 "Well, Senn," the mantis-being said over a
translator, "we've learned all we can from Ranma,
and we've made a tidy little profit. Right now, we
feel it is better for Ranma to retire and be
returned to his original time/space locus. After
all, the odds in any battle with Ranma are no
longer really that profitable..."

 "Ah, so he's going to be sent back to his home
time/space coordinates. That's wonderful, Kelar."

 "That it is Senn! I know if I'm away from my
grublings too long, it just brings an ache to my
heart. Of course, we DID put quite a bit of money
into him over the years, what with all the
training, rebuilding, biostabilizing, psionic
enhancements, not to mention the genetic
reconstruction. Still, we made a nice profit and
our stock has steadily climbed since we acquired
Ranma. So we at the Board said, 'oh what the
heck'!"

 "Considering Ranma's fan base, this is a
particularly good move, since the rumors started
Psimech stock has increased 25%."

 "To which we thank all Ranma's fans, and Ranma
thanks you too. The propect of finally returning
home has just given him a new drive that we
haven't seen from him in decades." The mandibles
of the mantis clacked in a racial equivelant of a
grin. "In the meantime, thank you for your
support, all of you."

 "There you have it, and we return you to
ringside..."
-------Somewhere-------
 The thick shiny gel bubbled slightly as the
occupant of the bath moved. What appeared to be a
decorative slimy lump of fungus was touched by a
thin tentacle.

 "Yes, boss?" The modulated voice of the secretary
came from an authentic human skull tastefully
accented with fake maggots (the real ones kept
dying in the atmospheric conditions pf the bathing
area).

 "Saotome is going home where he has a reasonable
chance of escaping my wrath," the fanged speaking
tube of the Druglord Clipke spoke in what sounded
like a gentle and reasonable voice to his
underling. "He could actually attain a peaceful
life without me avenging his insult. This must not
be permitted. Make sure that one of our agents
arrives to make his life interesting."

 The fungoid being on the other end didn't speak
of the difficulties involved, or the problems in
getting information from PsiMech Industries. His
boss wasn't interested. "Yes sir."
---------Nerima, Japan 1992-----------
 Lightning flared. What was particularly strange
about the lightning was the way the sparks
appeared in midair then accumulated into a
circular shape.

 A body jumped out of the circle, wearing a red
gi, black t-shirt, and something akin to lowcut
mocassins. "I'm back..." Ranma's eyes ran over the
way the streets looked. It had been so very very
long. Signposts in his native language, not Galact
or Fethur, or Thiskul, but in Japanese!

 The panda took three steps back before he
realized who it was. A sign appeared. [Ranma?!?]

 "Pop?" Ranma's eyes misted over. He was a pain in
the butt more often than not, but Genma was still
his father. Time had healed most of those wounds
that had been unpleasant memories. "It's been so
long..." It HAD worked, they had traced the
timeline and thought they had a lock on where he
SHOULD be.

 [Where have you been for the past three days?]

 "Three days?" Ranma thanked the kami. Considering
the odds they'd cautioned him on, getting even
this close was incredible. "Damn, pop. I thought
I'd never see you again. As for where I've been,
well, I don't think you'd believe me."

 [Tell me about it later, son. We have to go meet
a friend of mine.]

 "Sure thing, oyaji." Ranma smiled. He was back,
no more alien monsters to fight. There was
ramen and okonomiyaki and rice to be eaten. He
didn't have to deal with alien things that were
either trying to crawl away from the bowl, or
crawl away WITH the bowl.

 Life was good.
-----------------------------
 "Ooo. It must be Ranma." Nabiki jumped up and ran
 for the door.

 "Saotome...my old friend." Soun Tendo walked
briskly after his daughter.

 "Oh, I hope he's not younger than me." Kasumi
stepped towards the door, following her father.
Akane merely sat at the table and sulked.

 "Oh my!" Kasumi stared. He wasn't too young. She
placed his age as around eighteen, seventeen at
youngest. He was actually quite handsome though
the material of his clothing looked a
little...odd.

 Soun pointed at the young man. "You wouldn't
be..."

 "Hi. I'm Ranma Saotome. Nice place you've got
here." He bowed respectfully.

 Kasumi smiled. He was young but he was polite.
There was something odd about his
eyes too. He carried himself as far more mature
and adult than one would expect from his years.

 "So, you've been to China, have you?" Nabiki
looked him up and down and wondered about the
possibilities here. All she'd been hoping for was
cute, but this was a rather powerful-looking and
handsome young man.

 "Oh, is that panda your pet?"

 Ranma smiled at Kasumi, projecting calm. He
thought he detected some minor telempathic
abilities in the eldest daughter, mainly she
seemed to radiate niceness. This could be
interesting. "Not quite, if you'll get me some hot
water, I'd be happy to demonstrate."

 "Oh, where are my manners," Kasumi bowed and
motioned inside. "You must be tired after your
travels, please come in."

 Nabiki raised an eyebrow. Kasumi was flustered?
Well, it was quite true
that neither of them were getting any younger and
the guys weren't coming by. She was aware of her
own problem, that most of the guys were
intimidated by her and her reputation (well
earned) for ruthlessness. Of having guys take her
out, only to bleed them dry.

 Nabiki wondered about this Ranma, there was an
almost palpable aura of strength about him,
tempered with a deep sadness as if he'd gone
through some great trial and survived.

 She caught Ranma appraising her briefly and
Nabiki stared. Just for a moment she had seen
something unexpected.

 Part of her success in dealing with blackmail,
information services, and the like was an instinct
for knowing who and how far you could push
someone.

 She just caught a glimpse of it, then it was
gone. Ranma had known tragedy, and it still left a
trace within his eyes. Then the control came back
so much that she wondered if it had ever been
there at all.

 "So where is my friend Genma?" Soun watched the
young man carefully. A martial artist had to be
able to tell a lot about an opponent by the way he
moved. He could not read much about this Ranma,
other than a supreme confidence that no matter
what he faced this boy felt that he could rise
triumphant.

 "Hmmm." Ranma looked at the panda, then looked
towards the oldest of the three girls. "Miss,
could you please get me that hot water."

 "Oh certainly."

 "So this is the BOY you've made that stupid
promise about?" A young looking girl in a worn gi
was glaring at Ranma. It was just another boy,
after all, and they were all perverts. And she had
to be polite to this one because he was a guest.
Didn't mean she had to like it, though.

 He looked at the young woman briefly with a
smirk. "What promise was that?"

 "Well, I wanted Saotome to be here, but we had an
honor pledge made before your birth that you would
marry one of my daughters."

 "WHAT?!?" Just when Ranma felt that nothing could
ever surprise him again. Nobody had done something
like this before, thankfully.

 Soun continued, oblivious to the shock of his
guest. "You've met Kasumi, she's 19."

 "I'll be right there." Kasumi's voice came from
the kitchen. She was checking her reflection in
the window as she waited for the kettle to heat.
Not that she was interested in the boy or even
conscious of her actions, just that it would be
improper to meet a potential member of the family
while looking a mess.

 "This is my daughter Nabiki, she's 17."

 The girl in the kimono smiled up at him,
continuing her appraisal and finding she liked
what she saw. The hidden anguish and danger merely
added spice to the deal. Everything had its pluses
and minuses, and getting a handsome boyfriend
would be a plus.

 "This is my daughter Akane, she's 16. Pick any
one you want, she'll be your new bride."

 "Ah." Ranma thought about this. It was a matter
of honor, and frankly he'd spent way too damn much
time alone. The past thirty years had seen most of
his friends on the circuit either retired or
killed.

 He glanced at the youngest. She was angry though
somewhat cute. The middle daughter appeared to be
fairly intelligent, and judging from her choice in
clothing, was likely of a conservative nature.
That she resembled a young version of a certain
reporter he'd known was also duly noted. The
eldest seemed either not entirely there, or had
retreated behind a shell to deal with some
personal tragedy but did have some interesting
qualities. She seemed nice. He found nice to be
quite attractive, also very rare.

 "Mister, uhm, I'm sorry, my father failed to tell
me your name."

 "Tendo. I'm Soun Tendo."

 "Mister Tendo, then. I have just found out about
this arrangement. With three such lovely
daughters, how could I possibly make such an
important choice based only on such scanty data?"

 Nabiki grinned. He had a brain, and he knew to
use it. That immediately put him above most of the
other boys she knew.

 Akane grumbled a bit but remained silent as she
made a mantra for the occasion. #Don't pick me,
don't pick me, don't pick me...#

 Ranma picked up on the telepathic suggestion, and
raised an eyebrow. "Well, I don't think your
youngest daughter is that happy with the idea, so
let's not include her, hmm?"

 Akane opened her eyes and stared at the tall boy
in front of her. "You're not interested in me?
You're not going to choose me?"

 "Err. No." Seeing the skepticism on the young
girl's face, Ranma added. "You have my word, I
shall not seek to be engaged or married to you."

 Akane grinned. "Welcome to the Tendo dojo, Ranma.
Glad to meet you."

 "Here's the hot water, Ranma," Kasumi brought the
kettle in. She smiled at him as he grinned back at
her and nodded his thanks.

 "Uhm, you might want to sit down for this." Ranma
brought the kettle over and measured a splash of
hot water onto the panda.

 "HOT! TOO HOT!"

 "Oh my!"

 "No way!"

 Akane was silent. She didn't want to be the one
chosen, but she wasn't sure if she cared to be
dismissed so quickly and offhandedly.

 "My old friend! How did you?"

 "It was training in China, that did this," Ranma
explained. He quickly covered the salient points
of the Jusenkyo curse. "...of course that isn't
even a patch on what happened after that."

 "Ranma...you're cursed too?" Kasumi looked down
at the table. It had all been going so well, too.
She couldn't handle being engaged to a panda...

 "Oh my son, what a disappointment you are to your
father." Genma grabbed Ranma's gi and prepared to
throw him into the koi pond. Ranma wouldn't budge.

 "Pop. Let go. I'll demonstrate without disturbing
the koi." Seeing that his father wasn't letting
go, Ranma touched two pressure points and Genma's
arms went suddenly limp.

 Akane thought about it some more. While having
boys trying to pound on her regularly in order to
date with her, she knew the entire thing had
started from her complaint that she didn't get
enough sparring partners to practice the Art with.
Then Kuno had made that stupid speech. She
suspected that Nabiki, regularly setting up
betting pools based on how long it took Akane to
defeat the crowd, was responsible for the concept
reaching Kuno's ears.

 "Actually," Ranma said as he smiled reassuringly
at them, "compared to oyaji's curse, mine isn't so
bad. I don't like it, but at least I remain
human."
Ranma took a glass of water from the table and
splashed himself, becoming a busty young woman as
the curse activated.

 Akane blinked. The transformation was enough to
derail her train of thought. "You're a girl?!"

 Ranma raised an eyebrow at her. "I'm a guy. The
physical body is the only thing that changes, and
it can easily be reversed."

 Noting the expressions of the group, he heated
the remaining water in the glass with a minor chi
trick, then returned to being male. "It's a curse,
it's something you learn to live with. If I had
been in some disfiguring accident, would that make
me a freak? If I had lost an arm or a leg, would
that make me less of a man?"

 In Shinto, it would, but Ranma had been out of
the Japanese culture for decades and so didn't
remember that.

 Ranma shook his head, a little saddened by the
continuing looks of revulsion, but arguing with
them now wouldn't change their minds.

 Kasumi and Nabiki exchanged a glance. While the
curse was nauseating to contemplate in certain
situations, Ranma had made an excellent point
about it.

 "There's more you should know, but it's not
important right now." Ranma thought about it.
"Tell you what, Mister Tendo. Why don't we let
THEM decide, oh, about a week from now, which one
of them would be engaged to me."

 Genma blinked. "You're not upset about this?"

 "Why?" Ranma shrugged. "Frankly with all I've
been through, some stability in my life would be
most appreciated. If it turns out that one of
these two can be a good friend, then that's
exactly what I could use right now. Anything more,
well, that takes time."

 Kasumi blinked. That was certainly far more
reasoned out than she would expect from a very
young man. She wondered how old Ranma really was.

 Nabiki grinned. Ranma thought things out and was
patient. Two qualities that made for a good
business associate. This COULD be interesting. It
was a pity about the curse though she knew there
were pluses and minuses to ANY situation.
----------------------------------
 Ranma looked over everyone as they ate. He had
developed the habit of using any quiet time for
sorting things through, thinking ahead, laying
battle plans and the like.

 Ranma ignored his father stealing food from his
bowl. It was embarrassing to have such a childish
father, drawing further attention to this display
would only encourage him. Instead he looked over
the group, first as possible team-mates if any
number of the "skeletons" in his "closet" came
back to haunt him.

 Kasumi. Fighting potential: poor. She had a fair
amount of chi, but from what he had observed
earlier, she just wasn't cut out to be a fighter.
As Seyvu had said to him one day, not someone
you'd have at your side in a firefight- but ah,
they make the getting home again so sweet. Of
course, Seyvu was referring to his mate, a sweet
little girl who resembled a short T-Rex with long
arms terminating in clawed hands. Of course, that
also described Seyvu. He'd never gotten the hang
of being able to tell what gender a particular
Seljuk was from just looking.

 Nabiki. Ranma had actually dated someone who had
resembled Nabiki superficially, just color the
hair a metallic silver and the eyes a deep
blue-black and you'd almost have Ca'th Armand.
Ranma wondered if the reporter for the news
service remembered him at all. There had been that
night after the Hachiman fight...

 Back to Nabiki. All indications were that her chi
level was lower than Kasumi's. Physical strength,
though, looked to be slightly higher. High
metabolic rate. Such a person could be
an asset in a battle, as she seemed to have a
tough edge to her.

 Akane. Fighting potential: good, though with a
lack of control that could be dangerous. Spent a
lot of her time being angry, though she'd cheered
up enormously and then gotten lost in thought
after he'd excluded her from the engagement
proceedings.

 In a fight, out of this group, he'd probably
choose Nabiki if he had to have backup in a fight.
If she was anything like Ca'th, then she'd be
clever and nasty and inventive. As well as one
hell of a kisser. Second choice, Kasumi. Not as a
combatant, but in a support role she could well be
indispensible.

 Akane could possibly be trained to be a better
warrior so that he had backup if the situation
required it. He'd have to check with her later,
though be careful about how he did it so as not to
give her a false impression.

 "So, Ranma," Kasumi began, interrupting his
reverie. "Your clothes..."

 "Yes, Kasumi-chan?" Ranma saw her color slightly
and caught himself. Damn, he had spent
so long in a different culture he had forgotten
about many things. Had he just insulted her?

 "Oh my." Kasumi blinked a couple of times before
continuing. "That fabric your clothes are made of.
What is it?"

 Ranma stopped and thought about this. He knew
that he'd have to tell them sooner or later. "Do
you remember what I said earlier about the curse
not being the only thing that was strange in my
life?"

 "Yes..." Kasumi smiled, still blushing a little.
She'd been mother and housewife for so long, that
suddenly having a fiance and being referred to as
"Kasumi-chan" had quite unsettled her.

 Nabiki looked on, quite interested. Stranger than
changing into a girl when splashed with cold
water?

 Akane looked a little less distracted, while both
Genma and Soun merely exchanged a glance and
shrugged.

 "Well, I kinda took an unexpected trip." Ranma
rooted around in a pocket and pulled out
a silver marble that he laid on the table. The
commands for the album were in Galact, so he'd
just have to use that. "<Album. Activate. Image
title 'Beach At Orion Four'. Display at default
size.>"

 Genma and Soun jumped as a fan of light stabbed
up from the marble. Something like a photograph
appeared, though the clarity was unusually high
and everyone was seeing the same picture, though
they were all viewing it at different angles.

 Nabiki's eyes bugged out as she realized what she
was looking at. "A color hologram? There are two
suns showing..."

 "Oh my. What a big bug that is." Kasumi looked at
the odd people in the photo, one of whom
was playfully punching the image of Ranma in the
center. One of whom looked rather like some sort
of beetle. All except Ranma were clearly not
human, though the skunklike figure was fairly
close to human in overall appearance.

 "That's a Thiskul. They inhabit a planet about
400 light years away, I guess. Two days travel by
liner." Ranma's voice turned wistful. "His name
was Gau. We...lost him about twenty years ago when
a Sploogie rigged a fight."

 "You've been in space," Nabiki was looking at the
marble and wondering how much something like this
would fetch to an engineer. And this was something
Ranma was treating as commonplace. "Waitaminnute.
Twenty years ago?"

 "Oh." Ranma smiled and shrugged. "Twenty years
ago in my life. In real time, objective time, it
was roughly four thousand years in the future."

 Ranma waited a few minutes, while everyone
reacted with varying degrees of disbelief. He had
expected this reaction, even if confronted with
evidence. Such was human nature. "<Switch display
to page thirty-seven.>"

 The image of a crowded beach faded. Replaced with
an entirely different image. The default on this
one was set in a globe, so that the table and
people at it seemed to be suspended
completely within deep space.

 "Oh, how nice." Kasumi looked over at a nearby
planet and moon, shown with an immense red
sun behind them. She liked this, why, one could
take a trip and never leave one's house. How
wonderfully convenient.

 "Who the?! Is that..." Nabiki ran out of words
abruptly as she felt her mind lock up at what she
was seeing.

 "Oh, Nabiki, she looks a lot like you." Kasumi
smiled as she caught a glimpse of the woman
who was standing on some circular podium,
seemingly inspecting them.

 "That is a 'friend' of mine. Watch this." Ranma
smiled and switched languages to Galact again.
"<Play recording. Use translation routine to
replay voice in 20th Century Japanese.>"
The picture began moving. The woman, who resembled
an older Nabiki except for the hair and eye color,
pouted a little and tossed her head back. There
wasn't a lipsync as she spoke.

 "Well, Ranma, you've just won yet another battle,
this time against a full conversion warborg. How
do you plan on celebrating?" The pout turned into
a sultry smile.

 A disappointed look flickered over her face. "Oh,
c'mon Ranma, you are SO old-fashioned. Loosen up.
You only go around once in life, twice if you're
lucky."

 Nabiki watched her "twin" go into a near
duplicate of her exasperated routine. "I swear,
Ranma, you are SUCH a prude. One of the ace
reporters of the Galaxy News Agency tries to get
you in the sack, and all you can think about is a
way to get home and what this is going to do in
your next battle..."

 The image froze as it came to the end of the
recording.

 "Who..." Nabiki managed after she got her throat
working again.

 "Ca'th Armand. Reporter for a news agency.
Transferred out of war correspondence when she got
killed the first time. Turned to combat sports,
and followed my career for years. She...left me
right after this recording was taken." Ranma's
voice dropped. "She had needs...needs that I
was not willing to meet at that time. She went to
fill them elsewhere."

 "Needs?" Akane asked, coloring slightly.

 "Oh my." Kasumi colored a bit more than Akane.

 "<Deactivate. Switch off.>

 Ranma glanced around. "Look, I've been through a
LOT of things when I left Pops back at Jusenkyo,
then ended up in one of the alternate futures, but
I'm back in my own time now. I've spent a lot of
time in a culture not even remotely like 'modern'
Japan.

 "Oh, and Kasumi, the clothing is made of special
self-repairing fabrics. I'll have to ask everyone
NOT to open my backpack. The anti-theft devices
are not something you want to experience."

 Genma hid a smirk. No burglar alarm would keep
HIM from finding out if the boy had anything
valuable hidden in there.

 Akane looked at Ranma again, a completely
different thought occurring to her. "Ranma, you've
been in space, in some future, fighting, from what
that girl said?"

 "Yes, Akane?" Ranma sipped at his tea and put the
marble away.
"Learn any special techniques?"

 Ranma smiled and nodded.
--------------------------
 "So you've done all this and you're still willing
to go to school?" Nabiki frowned. Oh yes, there
were SO many ways she could turn a profit from
this guy. If just half the stuff he referred to
had happened, he was a prize. If he knew about the
sort of things he casually referred to, he went
beyond valuable. The problem, as Nabiki saw it,
was what to go for. Sure, she could betray any
confidences and go for the short term profit. That
would alienate Ranma, but she could probably live
off the proceeds of just what was in his backpack
in such luxury that she could buy the Kunos and
have them working as houseslaves.

 On the other hand, there was something to be said
for long term planning. If she played her cards
right, Nabiki knew that she could have wealth and
fame and power, and more than that. Both choices
certainly had their risks and the attendent
rewards.

 Ranma, not listening to Nabiki's internal
dialogue, walked along the top of the fence next
to her. The range of vision was slightly less
impeded from a height, always useful when you were
used to assassins and the like. "Yeah. I think
school will be mainly amusing, but the sooner I
can readjust to this society, the better off I'll
be."

 Ranma spared a glance behind him. "You know, I
don't think your sister likes me."
Nabiki smirked. She'd prefer less competition
anyway. "Oh, Akane hates boys. It's nothing
personal. Actually, she's nicer to you than any of
the guys at school. She's just that way."
Ranma pondered this. Certainly he'd run into
lesbians before, but for some reason hadn't
thought Akane was that sort. "Interesting crowd.
I'd think they were paparazzi but nobody knows me
in this time, and some of 'em got weapons..."

 "Akane Tendo!" The swarm started forward. "This
is for you!"

 Ranma hopped to the top of the school's wall to
watch. Akane moved forward, fists flying.

 "RANMA!" Nabiki looked up at him. "Come on, or
you're going to be late."

 "She do this all the time?" Ranma indicated the
melee with his thumb.

 "Yes, everyday." Nabiki smiled as she overheard
some of the muttering around them, the audience
had picked up that the new guy seemed to know her
very well. With the right rumors started in
secret, she could then make money on giving out
the correct information.

 Akane saw Ranma leap off the wall and make a
spectacular landing thirty feet away. She wouldn't
want to admit it to anyone, but she was impressed.

 Akane smiled a little as she launched a side kick
into a sumo wrestler. Maybe if Kasumi was actually
interested in Ranma, then Akane had a chance at
Doctor Tofu. She could console the good doctor on
his loss, she could catch him on the rebound.

 Pitching her voice a little bit louder than
necessary, Nabiki made sure her next words would
reach some of the audience. "Well, come on, Ranma.
As long as you're living at our place, we can make
sure you reach your classes on time."

 Ranma nodded and dropped from the ledge he'd
landed on to the ground in front of the doors. No
point in being late, he doubted that "fashionably
late" was well received by 20th Century Japanese
schools.

 "This boy is staying at your house," a voice
came. Nabiki and Akane looked over at where
Kuno held a rose in mid-throw. "STAYING AT THE
SAME HOUSE AS AKANE TENDO?! I, Tatewaki Kuno,
shall not allow this!"
 "Oh really," Ranma smirked. "Third dan kendo,
tops. Gee, this isn't even a decent workout."

 "Knave, who are you to hound Akane so? Wait,
should I not give mine own name first?"

 "Am I hounding you? I'm sorry, it's not
intentional." Ranma smiled at Akane.

 "That's just Kuno," Akane rolled her eyes at the
comment. "Actually, you haven't been that bad. All
things considered."

 "Aren't you paying attention? I SHALL SMITE
THEE!"

 "Hey, Akane, watch this. I'll do it slow. You
wanted techniques, right?" Ranma dodged back
effortlessly letting the sword pass by.

 "Yeah..." Akane watched Kuno's strikes coming
nowhere near the boy.

 Ranma deflected the sword to the side, using the
same move to pull Kuno forward. At the same time,
he kicked up into the kendoist's face as Kuno was
pulled off balance. He kept his grip on Kuno as
the boy went down, shifting his hands so that he
had a thumb pressing down into the sword-wielder's
right elbow.

 "If you press here, like this, he won't be able
to hold a sword in that hand for a couple of
minutes unless he knows the counter."

 "Ah," Akane said. She blinked and grinned, trying
to remember that. Well, if one of her sisters had
to get engaged, it was just as well the guy had
some use at least.

 Nabiki looked down at where Tatewaki Kuno lay,
sprawled out and weaponless.

 "You took Kuno out with one shot..."

 Ranma paused to hold the door open for Nabiki.
"Oh, c'mon. He wouldn't have lasted five
seconds in the Arena." He dismissed the kendoist.
The real challenge, he felt, was trying to
adapt back to this society after all he'd been
through.

 He never backed down from a challenge.
---------------------------------------
 A postcard was received. Cologne smiled. The
posthypnotic or the threat had worked, and she
didn't care which it was. Time to see if this
warrior was everything that fat fool had promised.

 "<Shampoo, get Shu Ga and Tam Lin. They'll be
your witnesses for this fight. We go to Japan.>"
Cologne silently added that if the warrior wasn't
all that Genma had promised, she would sell a
panda as breeding stock to the local zoo to recoup
her losses.
--------------------------
 The end of the week came quickly, with the days
thereof falling into a strange sort of routine.

 Ranma awakening early to greet the dawn and go
through some simple exercises that looked almost
like Tai Chi. By this time, Kasumi was awake and
had found a breakfast laid out for her along with
a simple haiku, or a reference to some novel for
her to look at.

Nabiki begrudgingly dragging herself out of bed to
watch Genma Saotome begin some sneak attack on his
son, attempting to start some martial arts
practice or training. Ranma usually ended the
battle by bouncing a panda around the yard like
some big medicine ball.

 Breakfast was followed by the trip to school.
Nabiki had arranged to be late twice during the
week so that she could enjoy the sensation of
being carried at a high rate of speed by Ranma to
her class. Such displays did not go unnoticed, and
furthered the betting pools as to who would end up
with Ranma at the end of the week. That was the
"official" reason for Nabiki to be carried by
Ranma, given to the rest of the family. The truth,
of course, was that being held within those
strong-enough-to-bend-steel arms, being carried
effortlessly through thirty foot leaps, and
snuggled up against a warm chest, were all things
that gave the middle Tendo daughter an enormously
pleasant feeling. She LIKED this.

 Ranma reached school and faced huge crowds that
could not believe that Ranma would NOT choose
Akane. Usually he'd go over them. Sometimes he'd
go through. Kuno, he largely ignored until that
regrettable incident where Kuno pulled a live
blade out and attempted to strike him with it.
Ranma had shown considerable presence of mind and
medical knowledge, and the doctors all agreed that
Tatewaki Kuno would regain use of that arm.

 The usual classes, with Ranma trying to reconcile
what he knew with what was taught. Current events
and social studies were the most fascinating thing
to him, as these were the very thing he needed
most to learn at this point.

 After school came Ranma trying to teach Akane a
number of moves and manuevers that would assist
her. Usually this was done at the Tendo household,
with either Kasumi or Nabiki or the fathers
watching just as a point of interest.

 Then came something Nabiki had insisted on, and
Kasumi had seconded. Without father or little
sister around, the two potential fiancees spent
some time trying to get to know this potential new
family member. Monday it was shopping with Kasumi.
Tuesday it had been going over some of the items
in his backpack with both of them, just in case
either of them needed to access such things. The
next day, Nabiki had insisted on a long walk -
just the two of them. Thursday had seen both girls
spending time going through Ranma's photo album
with him. Friday had been spent dealing with
Genma's attempt to get into Ranma's backpack.
Genma's eyebrows would grow back eventually.
Saturday was Kasumi and Nabiki going to a water
park with Ranma.

 The only strange point had been when some odd
Chinese girl had attacked Ranma, only to be
disarmed, quietly and quickly knocked out, then
left in the infirmary.
Which brought everything back around to Sunday and
a decision that had to be made.
----------------------
 Ranma had faced full conversion cyborgs and
dragons and demonic entities in the Arena. He'd
been stalked by assassins, slavers, reporters,
lawyers, and other unsavory types. He'd observed a
black hole from twenty au out as it swallowed
gouts of material torn from the heart of its
companion star. He'd even gone out on a drinking
binge (he had been the designated driver) with two
wolfen, a seljuk, and a dwarf.

 The situation before him, he felt, fit into the
same range of fearsome discomfort that any of
those situations had caught him with.

 He looked down at the tabletop and took a deep
breath. Then he looked back up. Nabiki and Kasumi
both looked back, one with a speculative gleam,
the other a polite smile. Akane, leaning against
the doorframe and smirking, was quite obviously
enjoying Ranma's discomfort.
"Now girls," Soun said, gathering solemn dignity
around him as best as he was able. "Now is the
time. You've had a week to get to know Ranma. So,
who will marry him and carry on the Anything Goes
school?"

 There was an awkward silence.

 "I..." Kasumi flushed and started studying
playing with her fingers. Being in the spotlight
like this had invoked her own shyness. Still, he
was strong, he was mainly mature, he was kind and
thoughtful.

 "I..." Nabiki chewed on her lower lip. Boyfriend,
yes. Fiancee possibly. The way her father had said
that sounded like the ceremony was scheduled for
later that afternoon. Still, he was intelligent,
and he was strong. My goodness he was strong. And
with his knowledge of future technology and
developments he could give little hints to keep
engineering students running in circles for days.

 Ranma swallowed as the silence grew. He should
have known. He was just too weird, too strange,
too alien. He'd never be accepted by either of
these two except as purely platonic friends. Too
bad, he was really beginning to like them.

 "Shampoo accept!"

 The entire group made an eerie synchronized blink
at that.

 The door burst open, unfortunately in little
pieces, and a Chinese girl with long hair entered.
She was followed by a short older woman and two
girls of about the first's age.

 "<Shampoo, I told you to open the door. NOT
destroy it.>"

 "<Sorry Great-Grandmama, but door is open now.>"

 Akane stood ready, her house had just been broken
into, and she was anxious to test herself against
a new opponent.

 "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" Soun Tendo
growled at this, one of the most important moments
in his daughters' lives, being interrupted by
property-destroying strangers. He was not a happy
camper.

 Everyone present noticed Genma dousing himself
and holding up a sign that read [I'm just a cute
lil' panda.]

 "I'm afraid that the marriage of Ranma Saotome to
one of your daughters will not be permitted. By
Amazon Law, Ranma was promised to Shampoo by his
father and then the marriage sealed when he
defeated her in combat." The old woman smiled at
the crowd. "It's a done deal."

 "<That was the Shattering Touch technique, wasn't
it?>

 The Amazons stared at Ranma briefly as he had
just spoken in something resembling their own
language.

 "That was the Shattering Touch technique, similar
to the Breaking Point, wasn't it?" Ranma repeated
in Japanese.

 "Son in law, we need to talk."
----------------------------------------
 Akane was keeping an eye on the Amazons as Soun,
Genma, Ranma, and Cologne hammered out the details
of an Armistice. Ranma had suggested getting out
of the house before tempers continued to flare up,
that it might be more productive to try and use a
Western custom of hammering out a deal during
lunch.

 If nothing else, a full meal and a crowd of
others ought to keep the violence level from
getting too outrageous.

 Akane dismissed the Amazon known as Sash after a
moment. One look at Nabiki's manga collection, and
*that* Amazon was happily chatting details of the
latest romance manga with Akane's middle sister.

 Shampoo had wanted to accompany Ranma. Shampoo
had been left behind. Shampoo was unhappy.
Akane kept on eye on the door destroyer.

 Tam Lin and Shu Ga were more easily dismissed
than Shampoo though not as happily oblivious to
anything outside of their reading material as
Sash.

 The crackling noise brought all of their
attentions to something other than the tension of
the situation. Excepting Sash who had to be hit
upside the head to get her to put down the manga.

 A circular bolt of lightning, chasing its own
tail, brought hurried speculation in two
languages.
---(warning dark scene ahead)------------
 "He MUST marry one of my daughters, it is not
only a matter of honor but of long personal
friendship forged under the suffering of serving
under a demon."

 "Don't spit rice at me, sonny boy. By defeating
my Shampoo, he's already effectively married her.
Eh? Son-in-law, your watch is beeping."

 Ranma looked down with some alarm (and a tiny bit
of relief) at the device. "Actually that's a
multifunction wristcomp. But...oh dear kami,
Nabiki."

 "Excuse me?" Soun blinked as his thought
processes struggled to go in a different
direction, having gained a lot of momentum on
their current course.

 Ranma stood. "Uhm, I've got to go. Cologne, as an
Elder you might follow me. You two stay here and
take care of the bill, come as soon as you can?"

 "Huh? What?"

 Ranma pointed to the display, exasperation
clearly showing. "That's Nabiki's signal that
she's in deep trouble."

 "But wait." Soun stopped as he became aware that
Ranma was no longer even in the restaurant. The
old woman was a visible blur heading towards the
exit, presumably after him. "Well, I, NABIKI!?"

 Genma finished his meal, sighed, and noticed that
he was quite alone. Looking around, he decided to
sneak off before anyone noticed that he'd been
left holding the bill.

 He didn't make it.
------------------------------
 Nabiki held her head in both hands and wordlessly
screamed. Not from physical pain, but from the
sensations and imagery assaulting her. The steady
blink of a display on the small box in front of
her forgotten as she could no longer remember what
it was anyway.

 The image that unfortunately came to what was
left of her mind was of worms running through her
brain, eating away at thoughts and memories and
feelings. She was vaguely aware of Shampoo and
Kasumi nearby not looking much better.

 She rallied as best she could, even as she felt
her Self dissolving under the assault. Long enough
to reach with a trembling hand and pull an odd
cigarette lighter out of her hip pocket and point
it in the direction of the Thing that was doing
this.

 It made a noise that could have been a laugh from
an octopus and slapped the weapon out of her hand.

 She was aware of the Thing casually lifting her
in one arm, as it regarded her through bulbous
yellow eyes, of the writhing set of tentacles at
the end of a head that was vaguely horse-shaped.
Nabiki felt her identity dissolving like a
chocolate stick in boiling water.

 Nameless dropped as the Thing let go, its own
hands reaching up but not in time to catch its own
head dropping from a cleanly severed neck. A thud
to the side brought her attention to a brown
haired girl who'd collapsed, some little tube
dropping out of her hands as she did so. Nameless
saw a purplehaired girl also drop, she'd
apparently gotten her hands on some sort of big
knife.

 Nameless thought they had the right idea, it
would be a good time for a nap.
-------------------
 Ranma reached the house, pulling the sort of
g-forces one would expect from powerarmor
commandos and drag racers at the least.

 Having reached the house, he did a quick sensor
sweep before he went barging in. The little
monocle hummed as it began displaying the grid and
data.
SCANNING...
Temporal/Spatial Flux Detected. Analysis:
Time/Space Gate. Vibrational pattern indicates
Gate terminated five minutes ago.
Psychic Reverb Effect: High level psionic attack
has left localized aura change. Fifteen minutes to
clear.
Reading Life forms. Human females six. Life signs
failing in three units. One Cthon. Life signs
negative.

 Ranma charged in, and was rewarded with what he
had been dreading.

 The site of the Gate was marked by two bodies, it
looked like Akane and Sash had been put under a
"beat each other senseless" compulsion. Shu Ga was
a mess. Tam Lin was worse.

 "Excuse me," came a voice from the yard. Nabiki
was looking at him oddly and speaking in a little
girl voice. "You're Ra-something, aren't you?
Could you please tell me who..."

 Ranma went to the girl and briefly held her,
stroking her hair as he looked into the house. A
dead Cthon confirmed his fears. "Come on, Nabiki,
I can help you, but you need to help me first."

 "I'll attend to the wounded," came Cologne's
gravely voice. "Land's sake, what did this,
anyway?"

 "A Cthon, they're a psionic race of slavers.
Brain eaters. The Splugorth hire them from time to
time, particularly when they want to send a
message or get to someone without physically
killing 'em. They use a psychic talent to attack
directly an individual's identity, erasing their
personal memories and leaving them helpless. Hang
on." Ranma's fist slammed down about halfway down
the dead alien's body. "They register as dead, but
there's a second brain and they regenerate
eventually unless you make sure they're dead. This
one's dead for good, now."

 "Nasty," Cologne started to triage the three
injured warriors in the dojo area.

 Ranma held Nabiki close to him and addressed the
Elder. "Since it just happened, I'm going to get
some stuff out of my bag and try to reknit their
minds. I ain't a mindbender or a healer, though,
just seen this sort of thing from Arena fights
with telepaths and the like. I know the basic
principles, but haven't done it before."

 "That's more than I have son-in-law," Cologne
sighed. "Aliens, telepathy, time travel. Times
like this I long for the good old days when you
just had to worry about dragons and evil sorcerers
and oni. How's the girl?"

 "Nabiki, how old are you?"

 Nabiki blinked up at him. "My name is Nabiki? I
don't know!" The name didn't sound quite right,
but this guy said it was so. She trusted him, she
realized. Maybe he was her Daddy.

 Ranma nodded. "She's still awake, which is more
than the other two are. I won't be able to tell
more than that without probing. Oh, and I realize
you know better, but if you see any strange
gadgets around, keep Mister Tendo and my dad away
from them. It may have been carrying a  recall
device."

 Cologne nodded as she turned her full attention
to those whose wounds were merely of the flesh.
-----------Elsewhere/Elsewhen-------
 Little pieces of fungoid flesh came down as a
putrid green confetti. Druglord Clipke was not
happy. As a 245,000 year old creature - he was
more than a little put off by being taken by
surprise.

 The single bulbous eye that sat like the sack of
an octopus atop his main body swept the room and
three Conservators decided that they wanted to put
in for extra tranquilizers. All seven manipulative
tentacles jerked around in the protective gel,
while the four feeding tentacles gnashed their
teeth and sprayed spittle.

 "HOW DARE YOU! Interrupting my noon feeding to
tell me of some miserable failure. This wretch
sent a Cthon in. What kind of moron sends a
mindreaver against a gladiator?"

 "Lord Clipke," a figure bowed, politely if overly
dramatic with the swirl of robes.

 "Speak, Cypher." The Druglord sent three of the
feeding mouths into the flesh of a humanoid slave.
This was all most unsettling.

 "Observe the viewscreen. We used a psychic
parasite to observe through the slaver's eyes his
mission, and record it for your amusement."

 The eye focussed on the display. Clipke was
amused at seeing these humans thrown around, at
two of them being "puppetted" and told to knock
each other out. Finally the meat as the Cthon used
its abilities to reduce three of these girls to
helplessness. A tentacle snapped out and replayed
a section.

 "That one. She has a one-shot plasma blaster.
What is a stinking primitive ape-descendent biped
doing with a plasma blaster!" He never did like
bipeds. Tricky little monkeys. Just as soon as
you'd killed off four or five billion, they
started attacking your powerplants or train
stations or something. Hard to exterminate once
and for all, then give 'em a few thousand years
and they'd be back.

 "If you'll notice, Lord, this one had it and
another device. One of the others used the plasma
device and was wearing what appears to be a Mk IV
Standard Forcefield Emitter."

 Clipke stopped feeding for a moment. "Then it is
just as well a psychic agent was used. How much
did this little operation cost me anyway?"

 This time Clipke's roar could be clearly heard a
half mile away.

 "Why a slaver and why these? Cypher, you know
more than you tell."

 "Always, Lord Clipke. These three were
particularly targetted as a sonic probe indicated
that these were all mates of this Ranma."

 Lord Clipke paused, and turned his full attention
to the paused screen. "Oh yes. I recall something
about this. These human types tend to select mates
for life instead of just doing things in the
proper season and then going about their
business."

 "Just so, Lord. AND they form emotional
attachments to these preferred mates. Which is why
these were the selected targets. If your agents
had killed the targets, why, that would be it and
no doubt Ranma would seek vengeance against you."

 Clipke waved that aside. "Bio enhancements aside,
he is only one and a human at that. What harm
could he do?" That's odd, he hadn't programmed the
weather for any storms. Was that thunder?

 "As you say, Lord. However, as angry as he would
have been at that, that his mates had been taken
as slaves and had been reduced to an animalistic
state for, say, Lord Spleengore's wildlife
preserve? At least that was the previous plan."

 "If he had some silly emotional attachment, yes,
I guess that would work. Cypher, I don't want to
get too complicated here. This Ranma caused me
some minor inconvenience, and I will be satisfied
if it is replied in kind. Who is next in my chain
of command?"

 "That would Drool, a High Lord specializing in
cybertech."

 "Drool?" The Splugorth repeated in disbelief.
"Well, at least it's easier to pronounce than that
one minion's name. What was that, two minions
ago?"

 "I believe that was
Vexwirbletcheemanogarifaxukubeneef'treel III,
Lord."

 Clipke blinked. "Yes, that was the fellow. I had
to get rid of him to spare having to say that damn
name of his."

 "We just referred to him as Vex, Milord. He's
currently doing a wonderful job in obnoxious virus
development and research."

 "Pity that magic doesn't work that well in this
universe, I'd have just turned him into something
small and fuzzy and eaten him." Clipke sighed, it
sounding eerie coming from all his mouthstalks at
once. Ah, the good old days. "Well relay my orders
to Drool, then. He is to take the CHEAPEST
assassin he can, and kill Saotome. No mindraping
preferred mates or mucking about with the natives,
just in and kill the boy. And do it CHEAPLY or
I'll have his head."

 Clipke noticed Cypher was still there. Cypher
wasn't replaceable. Cypher wasn't even really his.
"Was there anything else?"

 "Sir, humans are prideful."

 "Prideful? Hmmm. Yes, I *have* heard that."

 "And Milord wanted something, AMUSING, shall we
say to occur to the boy who caused such an
unfortunate turn of events. As I recall he foiled
one of your assassins, but later it turned out
that if the assassination had taken place it would
have 'turned around and bitten you on your assets'
I think is the phrase."

 "True," agreed Clipke. He remembered THAT. If he
had killed that little nebbish, Splynncryth
would've gotten involved. That would not have been
good. "So I should punish this biped as well as
reward him for a service, however unknowing. You
have a point in all this, Cypher?"

 "Not only is this Ranma hume a prideful sort,
Lord. I have discovered from his BioMech records
and training records, that he has mated 213 times
*in training simulations.*"

 "So? It's not like..."

 "In real life. Never."

 "Never? Well, he's only a couple of hundred years
old. Hardly any time at all."

 "That's over two times the normal lifespan of a
human, Lord."

 "Oh. So these mates of his are..."

 "Analysis of the sonic probe indicates that the
three females are the result of a requirement of
some honor pact or series of honor pacts. And no,
it is safe to say that he has *not* commenced a
mating with any of them. I have some videos of
common human mating practices that I have
acquired, added to his nascent psychic abilities
it would have been obvious if he had done so."

 "So, this male hume has avoided mating, and is
now being forced to form one of these lifemate
bond things with three females of the same
species." Clipke thought about this. "What is the
record number among humes for males lifemating
females?"

 "In legend, 1000. As near as I can tell from the
few bits and pieces of their culture that I have
sorted through, the most wives a single male human
maintained has been closer to a dozen. And
supposedly it is illegal in the area he's
currently in to have more than one. Most curious."

 "Does he squirm in the presence of these
females?" On hearing an assent, the Splugorth
giggled. This really alarmed the guards, who knew
that this meant that Druglord Clipke had been
dipping into his own stock. "DONE! Assign three
agents. Minor types, manipulators. Get that
Terlin, Cupid. He'll *love* this. Oh and that
Vex-whathisname. I want him lifemate bonded to TWO
dozen females. And throw in a couple of
near-compatible species. Manipulate the events.
We'll throw in a few monster attacks and the like
to make him think THAT's our plan."

 "Ah," said Cypher, knowing full well who'd turned
up the dosage on the drug delivery system. "Very
good, Lord. I shall so arrange it."

-----------------------------------
 An hour passed, turning to two, turning to three,
and a *very* exhausted Ranma came down the stairs.
He waved off a curious Cologne, two frantic
fathers, and waved at a distraught Akane and
recovering Amazons.

 "Son in law, you look like hell." Cologne thought
it was putting it mildly. Ranma looked as if he
had been awake for days and fighting demons out of
some pit. His head kept tilting forward as if he
were going to keel over at any moment.

 "That was exhausting." Ranma said after a moment.
"It's not done yet, either. The three of them are
laid out in Kasumi's bed. Nabiki's was too narrow
and I wanted all three of them together while I
worked. They're essentially in a state of
MetaHypnosis while the work I did starts mending."

 "What did you do? Are my little girls going to be
all right?"

 "Yeah. Just need to seperate 'em before much
longer.Move Shampoo into Akane's room I guess."
Ranma interrupted that with a yawn. "Damn, no
wonder the 'pathic healers do all that fructose
stuff. This takes a lot outta you. Anyway, I found
the remaining fragments, tied 'em together,
brought out the stuff that didn't get erased and
dulled the memory of the attack since that'll get
in the way of the healing. Just be careful not to
say or do anything for a couple of hours. Very
suggestible right now, part of what makes this
Cthon identity erasure stuff so nastily effective.

 "I just need to recharge a bit and let the
fragments knit together, you know what..."

 Cologne pulled Ranma's head back up off the
table, looked into his eyes, and made a clucking
noise deep in the back of her throat. "Well, he's
going to be out of action for a few hours. I
suppose we need to set up a perimeter guard in the
meantime. Sugar, near the dojo. Akane and Sash,
I'd suggest one on the roof, the other nearby. Tam
Lin is still borderline, if she wakes up it will
be several hours away."

 Genma got a thoughtful look and announced he
would just check on the girls really quick.
-----------------
 Genma crept close to the bed. Shampoo, Nabiki,
Kasumi. With a slight frown, Genma hesitated doing
this, but it was for the sake of the Anything Goes
School!

 "Kasumi," he spoke gently into the girl's ear.
"Listen to me, listen to my voice."

 Kasumi moaned slightly in her sleep.

 Ten minutes later, Genma left. Five minutes after
that, Soun checked on his two little angels when a
thought occurred to him. This was for their own
happiness, after all.

 "Nabiki," said Soun gently into his daughter's
ear. "This is your father speaking. This is for
your own good. This is for your own happiness.
This is what will make you happy."

 Five minutes later, Soun exited. Ten seconds
later, an Amazon flipped into the room. Sash
looked at the helpless Shampoo and remembered
being bullied by her, remembered being treated as
weak and unworthy by the Champion. When the
Heavens had given her such a clear sign for some
payback that would actually help the Champion, and
thereby the Village, realize there was more to
life than farming and beating on each other?
Still, Sash hesitated, then whispered in Chinese
to Shampoo. A mischievous impulse later and she
whispered a few things to Nabiki and her sister.

 Not malicious, not mean, but in the desire of
expanding a few horizons. Yeah, that was the
ticket.

 Fifteen minutes later, Cologne snuck into the
room. After looking at how cute the three were all
cuddled up like that, she decided what the heck
and left. She almost ran into Akane, who was just
concerned about her sisters.

 A mischievous streak took the youngest Tendo,
though. Maybe...
-----------------
 Ranma awoke to a "DARLING!" and sudden glomp.

 Ranma looked down at Kasumi and tried to figure
this out. "Uhm, Kasumi?!"

 "Yes, dear?"

 "Uh-oh!"

 "ANATA!" <GLOMP!>

 "AIREN!" <GLOMP!>

 "Ranma, exactly WHAT did you do to my sisters?"
Akane glared at Ranma for a moment, then began to
laugh as the panic-stricken look on Ranma's face
penetrated. "OK, so what is this?"

 "I dunno! Crap, you don't think they imprinted on
me, do you?"

 "Oh land's sake. Look at you four."

 "Hmmm. Well, Saotome, maybe we should make the
wedding arrangements now." Soun chuckled at how
well Nabiki had recovered. Why Kasumi and that
Amazon were doing the same thing, though he didn't
understand. Hmmm. Had he spoken loud enough that
all three had heard?

 "There's a one-hour wedding chapel over on
Setsumei Street..." Looking at the way Kasumi had
overcome her shyness, Genma felt a touch of pride.
Still, why were the other two acting like that?
Maybe he should have whispered?

 "Setsumei Street?" Shampoo asked.

 "I'll show you," offered Nabiki.

 "AAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaa..."

 Cologne, Akane, Sash, Genma, Soun, Tam Lin, and
Sugar all looked at the little trail of dust
leading out into the street. It had looked like
Ranma's grip on the doorframe would stop him for a
moment, but now there was a section of doorframe
missing and no sign of the four.

 A little fragment of doorframe clattered down to
the floor in the sudden silence.

 "You know, Saotome..."

 "I think maybe we really need to get there."

 "Can you tell me how to get," Sash paused and
wondered if she had this right. She understood
Japanese mainly, but it had been a long day. "How
to get to Setsumei Street?"

 "Where on Earth am I now?"

 Nobody answered the young boy at the gate, but
when he saw the crowd running figured that
following them would probably be wise.
---------------------
 "Daddy, what did you THINK was going to happen?"

 "Well, I don't know, I..."

 "It was a lovely ceremony."

 "Was very nice. Shampoo glad she come to Japan!"

 "Ranma, I can't believe you're alive!"

 "Say that AFTER the honeymoon."

 "NABIKI! I can't believe you three are going
along with this!"

 "It wasn't a legal ceremony, I tell you. And I am
NOT Muslim! I'm sure I did everything right, I
sure can't think of any reason for the healing to
get this screwed up."

 "Better learn to live with it, Ranma-dear."

 "NABIKI!?"

 "So, who's on first?"

 "KASUMI!?"

 "NO! At least wait on this until I'm sure your
minds have healed."
------------------------------------------
 One year later.

 "I can't believe this. WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO
ME?!"

 "Ranchan?"



"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)

lotsa avenues i didn't explore here. may go back
and rewrite the last section, you can probably
tell that it went off a different tangent than
what was planned.

i've also gotten an SRU round robin
not-quite-revengefic underway, with two fanfic
authors already contributing and targetted. it
deals with people (demons, apprentice wizards,
temp help) taking over for the Wiz in the Spells R
Us store just as some "contracts" are put out on
slow/annoying/whatever fanfic authors...

and if the Pooh idea wasn't odd enough, how about.
        Genma + Spring of Drowned Calvin
        Ranma + Spring of Drowned Hobbes
        just the scene where Fiancee A is being
stalked by a playful stuffed tiger makes me want
to write it, but as i've already done similar
ideas, i don't know how different i could make
it...
        (pictures Kasumi getting pounced on by
Ranma-neko, oh my, snicker. Akane would just call
him a pervert and use a "blunt object of
opportunity.")

ja ne.
gregg
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"still searching, still dreaming, still alone."
                         -N.Brazil, "Midnight at
the Well of Souls"