[FFML][Ranma][fic]Expansion Set - Future
Tense
From: metroanime@mindspring.com
<mailto:metroanime@mindspring.com>
Message-ID:
<002901be86df$5304b900$1fcc56d1@default>
Date: Wed, 14 Apr 1999 18:28:50 -0700
Ranma 1/2: Future Tense, formerly "King Of
Fighters"
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 my concept for King Of Fighters
went in a completely different direction from
Dragonbard's Dragonball variant, so here it
is as a minific. Note that the Expansion Sets
are just meant to flesh the ideas out a bit,
and are no substitute for a nice long
continuing series. Of course, this one sort
of took off during the rewrite, but then i
*like* powerful mature Ranma variants. One of
the major things i've tried to do in the
rewrite is de-Psycho Akane for those more
polite folk out there who actually like
Hammergirl.
     This was renamed Future Tense to avoid
any confusion between DragonBard's King Of
Fighters, a videogame of the same name, and
this.
     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

-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...it's showtime!"
--Jusenkyo, China, 1992
AD-----------------------
 Ranma charged forward, leaping after her
father, currently a panda. The only thing
currently on her mind was getting even with
her father for leading them to a set of
cursed springs. 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.
He bought his freedom decades ago, has gone
on to train some of our Special Ops people,
and has worked with our Prometheus Project
scientists. 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 temporal/spatial 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 of the bathing pit).

 "Saotome is going home where he has a
reasonable chance of living a peaceful
retirement from the arena," the fanged
speaking tube of the Druglord Clipke spoke in
what sounded like a gentle and reasonable
voice to his underling. "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. Fairly difficult as this
person appearing was taller, more muscular,
and looked a few years older than when the
two had last met. A sign appeared. [Ranma?!?]

 "Pop?" Ranma's eyes misted over. He was a
pain in the fanny more often than not, but
Genma was still his father. Time had healed
most of those wounds to the level of hazily
recalled 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, he'd
run into two dozen faith systems on a hundred
worlds, and had been more intrigued by the
points they had in common over the ones they
did not. Just in case any were listening, he
made it a nondenominational thank you.
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.] The panda was
relieved. He had sent the postcard prior to
Jusenkyo, and now he could actually deliver
on the promise.

 "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, having absolutely no clue how
ironic that statement was. Akane merely sat
at the table and sulked.

 "Oh my!" Kasumi stared at the boy being
motioned into the house by her father. 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. Actually he
thought the whole thing looked rather cramped
and dimly lit, not to mention primitive, but
Ranma thought he'd have to get used to that.

 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.
Nabiki grinned a little as she contemplated
the possibility of having other interests in
her life besides money.

 "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 lining up at the door. 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. Of course, that had been LAST year, but
everyone seemed to remember it.

 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. You had to be able to
size someone up quickly and (mostly)
accurately.

 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?" Akane deliberately glared at
Ranma, trying to communicate her disapproval
of an arranged marriage with that expression.
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. Akane eyed
the boy anyway. Just because he was tall,
fairly handsome, broad shouldered, and looked
like he could have stepped off a romance
novel didn't mean that he was not a pervert.
Not that Akane would be interested in a BOY.
Nope, never. Was it getting warm in here?

 Ranma looked at the young woman briefly with
a smirk, noting idly that she was wearing a
yellow gi. This might mean she was a fighter.
Too bad she seemed to dislike him already.
"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 anything like this before, thankfully.
At least that he knew of.

 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. Right?

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

 Nabiki smiled up at Ranma,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. It was
going a little fast for him, but he had to
admit he'd had a few opportunities over the
years and he'd waited too long or been too
indecisive and the girl in question had gone
elsewhere.

 He glanced at the youngest. She was angry
though somewhat cute. The middle daughter
appeared to be fairly intelligent, and
judging from the blue kimono she was wearing,
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. It certainly
put him above all those idiots going along
with Kuno's "you must beat Akane in order to
date her" crowd.

 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...#

 That was sufficiently loud that 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 in disbelief 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 of honor, I will not seek to be engaged
to or marry you."

 Akane grinned, relief washing over her. She
had a feeling this was one of those guys who
would rather die than violate his word of
honor. One less *boy* to worry about!
"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 as the relief gave way to
anxiety. She didn't want to be the one
chosen, but she wasn't sure if she cared to
be dismissed so quickly and offhandedly. And
permanently. Up until Kuno's challenge, she'd
always been the tomboy that was selected for
guys' roles in the school plays. She had been
flattered by the attention until she'd heard
Kuno quoting Shakespeare's "Taming of the
Shrew."

 "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. Akane KNEW that some of
the boys in question were merely idiots,
others going along with it out of peer
pressure, and others because of the girls
that refused to go out with any boys because
of some show of solidarity with Akane. That
one guy had so quickly and overwhelmingly
rejected her was aggravating. Why did this
guy think HE was so hot?

 "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
that could easily have become even more
memorable.

 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 combined
with a certain crafty intelligence. Such a
person could be an asset in a battle.

 Akane. Fighting potential: good, from what
he could see. Was initially angry, though
she'd cheered up enormously and then gotten
lost in thought after he'd excluded her from
the engagement proceedings. If he spent too
much time with her though, it would probably
cause problems with whichever ended up as his
fiancee.

 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. Not
a frontline fighter, but might be able to
handle a combat mecha. Considering the number
of times she had something in her mouth (a
pencil, rice cracker, or something) probably
had a bit of an oral fixation. That could be
a problem with a full environmental
exoskeleton, but with a simple booster-suit
or something along that line there were
possibilities. 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 radically different
culture he had forgotten about many things.
Had he just insulted her? He gave her his
best smile, hoping she'd forgive whatever
gaffe he'd committed.

 "Oh my." Kasumi blinked a couple of times
before continuing. That smile combined with a
term of endearment had a devastating effect.
It had been quite some time since she'd been
a "Kasumi-chan" to ANYONE. She tried to
ignore the little thrill it gave her to think
that someone saw her as a woman. Not as a
surrogate mother, not as a housewife, not as
some sort of 1001 use household appliance,
but as a living breathing woman. She
ruthlessly suppressed the impulse to glomp
Ranma. It wouldn't be proper. "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 strangest thing
in my life?"

 "Yes..." Kasumi smiled, still blushing a
little. The way he smiled at her was
difficult to interpret, but she thought she
knew what it meant. This was too close to the
spotlight for her to be comfortable, but
thoughts kept swirling around her that this
handsome polite stranger found her attractive
as well. There had been no one to tell her
anything like that for quite some time, and
long-suppressed hormones were stirring
themselves from their slumber.

 Nabiki looked on, quite interested and not
noticing the delicate flush stealing over her
elder sister's features. 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. The technology level
responsible for such a device at that size
was staggering. Nabiki, more than her family
or Genma, had a fair idea of what
impossibilities were involved. "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, one of the Thranx
lookalikes. 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. One could
travel the universe and still be back home in
time for dinner. This was even better than
the special effects in that "Star Wars"
movie.

 "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. Her normally immaculate
hair was now sticking up at odd angles. She
considered fainting.

 "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.

 Nabiki mouthed the word "needs" silently and
was glad she was sitting down. She decided
she was going into information overload and
needed some sleep. This was quite
overwhelming.

 "<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? Can you teach
me?"

 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 any of the details 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 straight 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. In another place,
another Reality, Nabiki might have chosen to
react with disgust and horror to the curse
and have the loneliness curdle within her.
Here and now, however, this was an
acquisition she was seriously considering.

 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, then 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." It was giving away
information, but it also allowed her to
establish early on that this boy was spoken
for.

 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 posed, holding a rose in mid-throw.
"STAYING AT THE SAME HOUSE AS AKANE TENDO?!
I, Tatewaki Kuno, shall not allow this!"

 "Oh really," Ranma smirked. "You're going to
challenge me? 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.

 Ranma wondered if it were even possible.
---------------------------------------
 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 Sash, 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. Ranma had
gotten fairly good at this sort of thing, the
crowds in the Arena circuit had loved it when
he quoted some popular novel, ancient saying,
or made an impromptu haiku prior to the
bloodshed. And, as he had an image to
maintain, he had learned to cook. After
decades of fixing his own meals, he had
gotten rather good at it.

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.
Sometimes he used purely martial arts
techniques. Other times he used odd talents
or chi attacks. It was always interesting.

 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. All three had a long
talk at the Emergency Room. 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 to meet
the eyes of those causing such discomfort.
Nabiki and Kasumi both looked back, one with
a speculative gleam, the other a polite
smile.

 Akane, leaning against the doorframe,
frowned slightly. This Ranma had proven to be
strong, friendly, polite, and quite a bit
more mature than she had expected. Akane
wondered if maybe she shouldn't have resisted
the idea of being engaged to this guy so
much. Still, wasn't Nabiki too young to get
married? And the age difference between Ranma
and Kasumi was quite improper.

  "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. You've talked with him, you've
gone out with him. So, who will marry him and
carry on the Anything Goes school?" His main
concern, that Ranma be a capable martial
artist, had already been sated. On to the
next concern.

 There was an awkward silence.

 "I..." Kasumi flushed and started 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. He quite obviously found her
attractive and was odd, but comfortable to be
around. Kasumi gathered her nerve to
volunteer, remembering a few moments from the
past week. That moment at the water park
where she had come out from the changing room
and he'd said how beautiful she looked. The
moment when she'd been cradled in his arms as
he had leapt to the top of the wooden
structure at the fountains to plan out their
next stop. Kasumi wanted more of those
moments. And, of course, there had been what
she had seen in his eyes when he had spoken
of his exploits and the friends he had lost.
Kasumi had seen the Need and Loneliness in
Ranma's soul and ached to see it filled.

 "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. She
wasn't sure what his limits in that regard
was. And with his knowledge of future
technology and developments he could give
little hints to keep engineering students
running in circles for days. She'd been
lonely, with nothing beyond money to occupy
her. Here she could bypass the money entirely
and go straight to levels of comfort and
security that great wealth would normally be
needed for. Nabiki resolved that as soon as
she could talk through the lump in her
throat, she'd concede that Ranma wouldn't be
an unacceptable fiancee. She wasn't willing
to have the situation control her, instead of
her in control of the situation. Still, in
business as in life, opportunity tended to
knock once. Temptation knocked all the time.
Business acumen was in knowing which was
knocking and right now her instincts said
that Opportunity was looking very nervous
across the dining room table.

 Ranma swallowed as the silence grew. He
should have known. He was just too weird, too
strange, too alien. That fear had been
building over the week, even though Ranma had
tried to ignore it. He'd never be accepted by
either of these two except as purely platonic
friends. Too bad, he was really beginning to
like them. Kasumi was beautiful, had a demure
strength to her, and really seemed to enjoy
their little trips. Nabiki could be really
cute, had a fascination for his gadgetry, and
Ranma had noticed the way she snuggled in
when he had to carry her to school on those
days she was late. In the Arena, the crowds
had only seen the image of Ranma that his
owners/managers had wanted projected and not
him as a person. Having tried to open up to
the two and then being rejected here and now
was hurting him more than he wanted to admit.

  Akane's frown deepened. What was wrong with
them? Why wasn't anyone speaking? She *knew*
without a doubt why Nabiki found excuses to
be carried those mornings. Akane also *knew*
that Kasumi's interest had increased over the
past week, to the point where you could see
the way Kasumi's eyes tracked Ranma. Nabiki
was doing the same thing, and there Ranma was
looking more and more like he wanted to do a
vanishing act. Akane acknowledged to herself
that while she still thought the whole
arranged marriage idea sucked, she no longer
regarded this Ranma as a mere *boy* or
completely unacceptable.

 "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 three 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. She'd been
learning techniques all week, and people had
been trying to defeat Ranma instead of her.
This looked like a good chance for a battle.

 "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. Not to mention he was naming
Special Techniques casually.

 "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 watched in amazement as Akane and
the Amazons fought. She'd known that under
Ranma's tutelage, Akane had improved. The
extent of which was now becoming apparent.

  Two of the Amazons had needed to "retreat"
from the battle. Tam Lin had been thrown into
the compound wall with enough force that she
had gone through it. Sash had managed to pin
the thing's scorpion-like tail with a cloth
namesake, only to be caught by a cloud of
needles that a lump on the thing's right
upper forearm had ejected.

  Akane bounced off the dojo wall, gaining
height in order to execute a flying spin kick
that made a cracking noise as it impacted the
thing's head. Shampoo attacked one of the
beast's knees with a pair of bonbori. Sugar
spun an extremely large sword through an
intricate move and brought it sweeping
towards the creature's neck. It blocked, but
would not be able to use THAT arm again.

  The creature countered, and Sugar skipped
like a thrown rock across the backyard to
impact somewhere inside the dojo. A moment
later and its tail swung free to slap Akane
completely out of the yard. The insectile
mouth opened and Shampoo was caught by the
cloud of white fibers which erupted. A moment
later and the Amazon Champion was completely
enclosed by a coccoon.

  Nabiki swallowed as the creature stepped
forward and regarded the two still standing.
Kasumi moved a little in front of Nabiki.

  The scorpion tail shot forward towards the
apparently unprotected girl in front. It
clashed against her forcefield, and Nabiki
was abruptly glad that she had suggested
wearing Ranma's gift to Kasumi. Even though
the suggestion had been prompted due to the
presence of armed warrior women and not a
six-limbed bug-scorpion attacker.

   Nabiki's own device, the multifunctional
box that Ranma had referred to as a "sort of
electronic Swiss Army knife", had long since
sent out its signal. Ranma had given both
devices to his fiancees. A defensive device
to Kasumi, an informational one to Nabiki.
The only functions she knew for certain of
were the emergency signal (Ranma had shown
her that one) and another setting that had
made the neighborhood dogs howl.

   The mouth opened again and the spray
covered Kasumi and her forcefield. Nabiki's
eyes widened as she saw the fibers move and
squirm so as to wrap her sister up more
effectively. Nabiki looked up to see the
monster stepping forward and hoped this
wouldn't hurt.
----------------------
 As he came into sight of the house, Ranma
summoned his armor. The wall separating him
from the gladiatorial armor could be replaced
later. The simple-looking armor fitted itself
around him, adjusting snugly into place as
the AI came online.

 "/Sensor sweep, full, passive only./" Ranma
paused his headlong flight for the seconds
necessary. He also made a note to recalibrate
for Japanese.

 "/Temporal flux detected. Aperature open for
5.37 seconds before dissipating. One bioborg
detected. Splugorth manufacture. Warning.
Parasitic organisms detected. Forcefield
detected, not in use by bioborg. Forcefield
failing under energy absorbtion particles.
Medium high threat potential. Response?/"

 "/Forcefield on. Full environmental
protection. Chi amplifier ready on my mark.
Specify bioborg as Enemy, native human
females as Allies/Hostages using parameters
from Scenario 911./"

 "/Ready. Running. Systems active./"

 "/Then, it's showtime./"
---------------------
 The octopus-like creature gently brushed
enough hair away that scalp was revealed, and
pumped another load of paralysis venom into
its victim just to make sure. "This One?"
inquired the biot of Those Who Command.

 "And These." Those Who Command sent back.
"Secondary targets will be neutralized.
Commence operation."

 The octopus settled itself into place,
covering the first victim's face and sending
millions of nanobots into the designated
victim. Then the second, whose forcefield
failed a moment later. Finally a third. By
the time the biot had begun squirting
nanobots into the third, the first victim's
nanobots had multiplied to billions. As it
finished, the biot noted that communication
to Those Who Command was being jammed.
Therefore speed was required.

 It had just finished with Shampoo when a
small chi blast reduced it to smoking
fragments.
-----------------------
    Cologne reached the compound to see a
battle going on that managed to impress even
her. A four-armed (though one of the arms
ended in a ragged stump) scorpion tailed
demon was fighting Ranma. The two clashed
together on the ground, reappeared in midair,
only to end up on the wall or the roof a
moment later.

 The demon used blasts of flame, acid, needle
shards, some sort of white webbing, and
bursts of blue paste. Ranma used chi bursts,
psi, and odd devices that extruded themselves
briefly from his armor. Cologne particularly
liked the chi-sword.

 Cologne spotted Ranma sparing an eyeblink's
worth of time to target and fire a chi-blast
at something other than his opponent, and the
opponent tried to put itself in the path of
the burst. Naturally her curiosity was
aroused.

 Amazons had been scattered like chaff before
the wind. There were also three figures bound
with webbing and a blue paste on their faces.

  A blinking light on a box drew her
attention. How odd, as she examined it
(without touching, one doesn't get to be
three hundred years old without learning a
measure of caution) she had the distinct
impression it was examining her. She looked
over the three bound figures a moment
later."<Interesting. Now what to do? Wash
this paste off?>"

 "<Switching to Ancient Language pack,
Chinese-Mandarin. Avoid contact with
nanopaste. Requesting assistance.>" The voice
was a pleasant but nondescript baritone.

 Cologne's attention swept back to the box.
"<Some sort of computer?>"

 "<Self is an AI device programmed by the
Thiskul Gau and given to the Human Ranma
prior to Gau Unit's death. Human Ranma gave
Self to Human Nabiki as a teaching device and
monitor. Request assistance.>"

 Cologne blinked as a hologram appeared over
the black box. "<Assist how, exactly?>"

 "<Enemy device is a programming transponder.
Location is interior dojo. If Self is brought
to within two meters of device, Self will be
able to reprogram device which is in the
process of reprogramming genetic structures
of Human Nabiki, Human Kasumi, and Human
Shampoo.>"

 Cologne had been called many things over
many years. Slow was not usually one of them.
She weighed the possibility this was a trick
vs the possibility it was legit and moved
accordingly. The chi blast she had observed
earlier had burned through some odd creature
that had a semi-organic look similar to the
creature that Ranma was fighting. The box,
however, was a sleek plastic and metal design
that was more reminiscent of Ranma's armor.

 The box was in her hands and she headed to
the dojo before another heartbeat had passed.

 Another heartbeat passed and another odd
organic device was pried from the dojo wall
by her cane to lay on the floor beside the
black box.

 Cologne fidgeted for a few moments while the
box hummed. "<Excuse me, but do I understand
that you are an intelligent computer?>"

 "<Essentially correct, though there is
little resemblence between Self and computers
of this era.>"

 "<The blue paste is a poison of some sort? A
hypnotic?>"

 "<Medical nanopaste.>" The computer paused
briefly as it came to a tricky part of
programming and it directed a major portion
of attention to it. "<Hundreds of billions of
tiny robots which rearrange DNA and organic
compounds to suit the need. Used by certain
races to permanently enslave their subjects,
others to correct systemic breakdowns or
malfunctions. Still others use it as a means
of torture, some use it to alter appearance,
while the Thiskul use nanopaste in their
quest for Transcedence. Previous program was
meant as a devolutionary spiral.>"

 "<I see,>" Cologne nodded, glad she hadn't
simply wiped the stuff off. She'd have to
have Sash explain this sort of thing to her
later. It didn't sound pleasant. "<So you are
making this paste inert?>"

 "<Not really desirable. First Self has to
undo the damage already done. Then set the
nanobots on a different course for programmed
limits. Do you have any requests?>"

 "<Requests?>" Cologne blinked.

 "<Have already discovered several problems
that might as well be corrected now,>" the
baritone of the computer sounded almost
pitying. That he was having simultaneous
conversations with three others was not
obvious to the Elder. "<DNA coding of Human,
correction, designates Kasumi Tendo and
Nabiki Tendo shows prediliction for cancerous
development. Correcting this. Weakness in
ligaments of knee on designate Shampoo also
noted. Correct this?>"

 "<Uhm, yes.>" Cologne blinked again.
"<Things can be transformed from one thing to
another? This blue paste can be used to
correct genetics and medical problems?>"

 "<That *is* the main use of medical
nanopaste.>" The computer sounded chiding.

 "<I see.>" Cologne goggled for a moment,
then smiled. "<How much do you know of the
current situation with the Tendos, Ranma, and
the Amazons?>"

 "<Quite a bit,>" the device replied.
"<Though my initial programming was by Gau
and mating practices are considerably
different among the Thiskul. The female
doesn't try to catch and eat the male during
the first few moments after mating, for one
thing. Note that Self will not endanger or
neutralize the Tendo units to favor your
candidate.>"

 Cologne shrugged. That would have simplified
matters, but she could see *other*
possibilities here. "<That shouldn't be a
problem. How about. . .>"
---------------------------
 Ranma finally finished the biobot off by
overstressing its regenerational abilities.
Then, to make sure, he reduced it to the
level of grease-spot.

 Unfortunately, Box wasn't speaking and
Cologne's explanation was not all that Ranma
could have desired.
---------------------------
 Nabiki relaxed slightly. She had been
drowning in a cold darkness a moment ago. She
had also been convinced that she had died and
not made it to a good place. Then the nature
of Nabiki's environment had changed. First
the water had started supporting her, then it
had become warm tropical waters. The lights
had come on after that, and what lights they
were.

 Overhead a ringed planet similar to Saturn
could be seen, taking up most of the sky.

 Nabiki thanked her mother, who must have put
in a good word for her to get this transfer.

 "Human Nabiki?" A gentle baritone voice
spoke from midair. "Human Nabiki can speak.
Require input from Owner/Operator."

 "I get servants in the afterlife?" Nabiki
smiled and lazed back in the warm waters. She
*had* made it to the good place. Or was this
a test? Slaves in Heaven didn't sound very
likely. "My name is Nabiki Tendo."

 "Designating Nabiki Tendo." The voice
sounded curious. "Nabiki Tendo is fiancee of
Ranma Saotome, does Self understand
correctly?"
--------------------------
 Kasumi stretched. The forcefield had
collapsed and she'd been surrounded. Then
she'd found herself in the tiny room with
razor sharp spikes all around. The walls had
been closing tighter and tighter. Then they'd
stopped and started moving apart. The wounds
on her body had slowly closed, revealing new
flesh behind.

 "Kasumi Tendo," a child opened a door to the
room that hadn't been there earlier. "Kasumi
Tendo, I have some questions for you. Please
come this way."

 Kasumi felt a moment of embarassment at
being naked in front of this child, followed
a moment later by the child handing her a
white cotton robe. She stopped as she looked
into the eyes of this child and realized
that, appearances aside, this wasn't a human
child.

 "Kasumi Tendo? Does Self understand that
Kasumi Tendo is prospective lifemate of Ranma
Saotome?"

 "The term is fiancee," Kasumi blushed
slightly. Then her eyes opened in wonder as
she stepped outside the box. A garden
stretched to the horizons. The riot of colors
were dazzling and twin moons could be seen
hanging in the sky above. "Where?"

 "The Thiskul homeworld. Gau's estate."

 "Oh my. How pretty." Kasumi stared around
her with a smile.
---------------------------------
 Shampoo cracked her eyes open and noticed
that she was no longer in the process of
being eaten. This was evaluated as a Good
Thing. She'd fallen in battle against one
Thing, then been attacked by that shapeless
thing that had begun flowing over her and
dissolving her. Now she was on dry land being
watched by a child.

 The little girl looked her over with solemn
eyes. "<Shampoo of the Nichieju, I need to
ask you a few questions.>"

 Noting that she was still missing both legs
and an arm, Shampoo laid her head back down
against the ground with a sigh. "<I do not
seem to be going anywhere for awhile. Where
am I? This odd jungle?>"

 "<Robinson's Forest on Taivor IV. It's a
nature preserve, sort of.>"
---------------------------------
 Ah, Nabiki thought to herself, it *was* a
test. Entrance exams for Heaven. Well, it was
always hard to get into the really good
clubs. Lying would probably be a *bad* thing.
"I am one of the potential fiancees for
Ranma. We were trying to get that resolved
when that thing attacked. My sister and I,
and apparently some Amazon named Shampoo all
consider ourselves to be potential fiancees."

 "Nabiki Tendo wants to be Ranma's lifemate?"

 Nabiki paused, but figured that it was all
over now anyway. "Yes, oh and can you raise
the water temperature another five degrees?
Oh yes, much better. Actually I'm the one who
would have won this little battle, since I
*was* the best one for him."

 "Why does Nabiki Tendo want to be Ranma's
lifemate?"

 Now that she was dead, Nabiki felt more at
ease about herself. Ah, to look back on one's
life and realize how much foolishness had
been in it. "He's good-looking, mature,
strong, intelligent, and most definitely
*not* boring. He's *so* clueless about some
day-to-day things but treats the impossible
as commonplace. I can turn a profit off of
almost anything he does, but frankly he makes
the monetary system tremble at his presence.
What is money but security and the ability to
get things? With Ranma and his technology, he
bypasses the whole yen thing for the most
part. Who needs billions to get a nice house
when someone like Ranma can rebuild a
mountain into a palace?"

 "Why should Ranma choose Nabiki Tendo out of
the three candidates?"

 "I'm the best choice, quite simply." Nabiki
didn't bat an eye. "The Chinese girl's from a
primitive village who can't appreciate what
just that holographic marble of his
represents. All she sees is a strong warrior.
Kasumi doesn't have a clue about the problems
this Ranma will run into. Which leaves me,
the person who can learn to operate these
devices."

 Nabiki paused as an island formed nearby,
she was now drifting peacefully in a warm
lagoon lit by the massive planet above.
Something began to register. "This isn't the
Afterlife, is it?"

 "No," a child appeared on the shores of the
lagoon. Interaction with the Human units had
been analyzed and a few more changes
implemented. His gaze was curious as he
watched her try to cover herself. "No, this
is a simulation of one of the resort islands
on Garibaldi III, a moon of the planet
Garibaldi in the Seshin star system."

 "Why am I here, then? Why did you ask those
questions?" Nabiki wanted to go up there and
kick the child's rear, anger briefly showing
on her features.

 "Your consciousness is here while your body
is being repaired. As it is quite painful,
I've set all three of you up in virtual
realities while the process continues. Before
you ask, yes, your sister is all right. At
least as much as you are. You were attacked
by a nanopaste that would have rebuilt you
down to the cellular level. Producing this."

 Nabiki held back a scream as she saw the
image appear at the lagoon's edge. "I would
have turned into THAT?!"

 "The process was interrupted. Repairs are
commencing. You may note some gaps in your
memory, as data lost there was
unrecoverable." The child shrugged. "As to
why those particular questions, I had
requested to Ranma that I be put in either
your care or that of your sister. I may look
like a common databox, but I am a fully
formed Artificial Intelligence. Ranma has
been friend and godfather to me, for all of
his typically human response time. I like him
and would like to see him do well in his
Arena retirement. So I have asked you and
your rivals the same questions. This way I
can evaluate the responses and advise
accordingly."

 Nabiki continued to stare at the image now
lapping water up from the edge of the lagoon.
The eyes that seemed to struggle to
understand the world around it and failed
miserably. "Kasumi and that Amazon?"

 There were three creatures at the lagoon
edge now. Other than fur color, Nabiki
couldn't see a difference. After a moment,
the images faded.

 "All are being cared for. Estimate that
genetic code can be rebuilt to 95% of the
original."

 "What about the other 5%?" Nabiki looked
herself over and couldn't see anything
different.

 "What would you like?" The child looked at
her with impossibly deep eyes.

 "What do you mean 'what would I like'?"
Nabiki began to feel a lassitude creeping
over her. "What's going on?"

 "Your body's reserves are being depleted and
you're going into a deeper sleep. When you
awake you'll be ravenous, by the way. As to
what I meant, just that. Think of me as an
intelligent computer, without hands but for
the limited life of the nanobots able to
manipulate your genestuff. A computer from
that future that Ranma told you about, one
whose storage capacity is greater than all
the computers in your nation combined. Do you
want to be taller? Stronger? Faster? Would
you like your reflex time measured in
picoseconds? It isn't much for me to tweak
your metabolism or make minor changes. Before
you get deep in there, is there anything you
want?"

 Feeling sleep overtake her, Nabiki blinked
her eyes open enough. "I just want to
understand this hitech stuff..."

 The child nodded and brought the lights
down. "Good enough."
------------------------
 Kasumi considered the child carefully before
answering his question. She would never have
spoken like this aloud, it would have been
impolite at least, but as this was some kind
of dream sequence, she didn't have quite the
need for restraint.

 "I was watching Ranma as he was going
through his album, and I was listening to
him. Not only what he said but how he said
it, and what he didn't say. It surprised me
that despite his apparent maturity and combat
skills, he is quite vulnerable as a person.
There is a great loneliness within him, a
need to care for and about someone."

 "Ah, you spotted that, did you?" The child
nodded. "He's lost many friends over many
years, not so much by death as by drifting
away."

 Kasumi nodded, that was the impression she'd
gotten. "There is a deep need within him to
be able to trust and love someone. Nabiki has
always been very possessive, and sees Ranma
mainly as an object. I believe the Amazon
also sees Ranma as an object. He needs
someone who sees him as a person and can care
about him that way." Kasumi nodded. Obviously
as soon as she woke up, she needed to go
ahead and tell Father of her decision.
----------------------------
 Shampoo tested her regrown legs. The arm
could wait. "<Of course, Ranma is my husband.
He's a strong fighter, quite capable, and the
village needs strong fighters. As the
Champion of the Village, I had begun to
despair of finding someone strong enough to
be my husband. Now that I have, it would be
foolish of me to let him go to some
non-warriors.>"

 The child looked sadly at Shampoo. "<Neither
of your rivals see the matter like that. They
see other sides of Ranma that you don't.>"

 "<It doesn't matter,>" Shampoo said with a
sigh. "<It is the Law, and even if he is not
an Amazon, I am. I must act in a certain way,
and I must marry Ranma. Part of the way I
must act is to eliminate the obstacles to my
marrying Ranma. There are no other choices.>"

 "<Fortunately,>" the child said after a
moment. "<I am not so constrained.>"
----------------------------
 "Alterations?" Kasumi blinked back sleep,
slumping forward as the weariness rolled over
her. "To me? I can't think of anything I'd
want to change. Maybe if you find something
that needs to be fixed?"

 The child listened carefully both to what
Kasumi said, and the deeper roil of thoughts
that she wouldn't have even spoken in a dream
sequence and nodded. "Good enough."
----------------------------
 "<If I could wake up even stronger, then
that would be good.>" Shampoo yawned as she
staggered. "<Need to convince husband that he
needs to listen to his wife.>"

 "<You won't be able to win like that.>" The
child had calculated the odds and psych
profiles and Shampoo attacking one of the
others would not be viewed in a favorable
manner.

 "<Shampoo will do whatever she needs to
win,>" Shampoo said, her voice trailing off
as she faded into a deeper sleep.

 The child listened and pondered. "<Anything?
I think I can do that.>"
----------------------------
 "More please!" Kasumi set the dish aside and
reached for the next one that Ranma handed
her. She was inhaling food at a rate that put
Genma Saotome to shame. Though that was still
slightly more sedate than Shampoo and Nabiki.

 "More!" Nabiki did the same.

 "Need more!" Shampoo held her dish out,
opting for a refill instead.

 "Oh my," said Akane, looking at the huge
stack of dishes forming. "Maybe I should help
you cook, Ranma!"

 "No," Ranma adjusted her apron, having
rinsed off the dishes and gotten wet as a
result. "Between Sugar, Cologne, me, and
Sash, we've got the kitchen covered. If you
can just bring the food in, that'd help."

 "Aaaaaa! What's wrong with my babies?!"

 "Both the initial alteration and the repair
were quite draining. The overall effect is
similar to having gone without food for
several days. Continuing to repair, but
additional raw materials are needed. Hence
their appetites." The box on the table
sounded somewhat annoyed. Things were getting
tricky and getting asked the same question
repeatedly was not helping.

 "So, Ranma," Akane looked around at the
devastation left in the wake of the attack.
"Exactly how are you going to fix all of
this?"

 "One crisis at a time, Akane-san, one crisis
at a time."

 "More please," said Kasumi, neatly stacking
another dish to the side.

 "On second thought, Akane, if you want to
help. Could you take over cleaning the
dishes? Hot water, cold water, shifting back
and forth. A headache I don't need at the
moment."

 "Okari," mumbled Shampoo as she set aside
another bowl.
------------------------
 Thirty hours later, three young ladies woke
up to discover the problems with leaving a
Thiskul-programmed AI with essentially a
blank check and control of nanobots.

 "Aiyah," Shampoo held her head in both
hands. "This very very strange!"

 Nabiki stared at a wall and twitched
occasionally.

 Kasumi amused herself by staring at another
wall. That little pieces of wood and plaster
kept fitting themselves together and fusing
into a rapidly repairing wall was not
coincidental.

 Akane closed the door to the room, and
crooked her finger at her sensei. "Okay,
Ranma, you promised to explain this. I
understand their genetic code was damaged,
and this is only a five percent alteration
imposed by the Box. I understand Box has its
own agenda and likes being 'creative.' I
understand all this. Dad still doesn't, but
after seeing Kasumi make the mops and brooms
dance they started hitting the sake. What
exactly did Box do here?"

 Ranma sighed and motioned to the table.
Cologne, Sash, Tam Lin, and Sugar were
already there. "Okay, once more. And 5% isn't
that accurate. Box felt that with the one
attack, that something nasty was likely to
occur eventually. Artificial Intelligences of
his type are outlawed in the future by the
way. Their processing speed is such that they
can be having a normal conversation with you,
AND be doing a half million other things
simultaneously. In order to give them a
measure of protection, Box took their input
and went off on his own initiative.

 "All three got the basic Human Enhancement
effect from an early genengineering project
in 2072. There were hundreds of very
practical genofixed traits in that model, and
when it was introduced it spread through the
generations. All genetic deficiencies and
diseases removed, supercharged immune
response and disease resistance, wider
wavelength responsiveness in both hearing and
sight, enhanced metabolic efficiency, control
over pain thresholds and reproductive
systems, lots of little things.

 "In addition, Kasumi's psychic potential has
been exploded. Telekinesis, Telempathy
(projection and reception of emotions), I'd
say some degree of Clairvoyance as well."

 Akane watched as a featherduster began clean
ing shelves, the objects lifting themselves
out of the way so that they could be dusted
under. "Offhand, I'd say Kasumi's managing to
cope. What about the others?"

 "Nabiki apparently wanted to know about
using some of my higher tech items. The
problem is that most people don't know more
than the basic minimum of how something
works. Most people in this era don't know how
a telephone works, they just know what
buttons to press. Box didn't feel that was
adequate. Nabiki's trying to deal with the
knowledge equivalant of advanced degrees in
biomechanics and quantum electronics among
other things. Give her a little while and
she'll be able to seal the knowledge off
until she needs it.

 "Box thought that Shampoo's main problems
were stubborness, a surfeit of pride, and a
lack of ability to see things from another's
viewpoint. Box made what he thought of as
'corrections' on that design. Once she gets
over that, increased strength and durability
were what she asked for and are in the design
parameters."

 "So it's powerups." Akane thought for a
moment. "How much of that blue junk is
necessary for that stuff?" Akane momentarily
entertained herself with the thought of bench
pressing armored cars, leaping tall buildings
in a single bound, and the like.

 "More than what we've got," Ranma lied. He
had enough troubles as it was. His
enhancements were much more elaborate and
powerful, but he could just see all the
problems that would come from having
genetically enhanced teenagers running about.

 There was obvious disappointment from the
three young Amazons. Cologne nodded, she had
expected Ranma to say that whether it was
true or not.

 "Actually, Self could easily accomplish
three minor upgrades with just the..." Box
trailed off as his sensors registered the chi
buildup near Ranma's hands. "Er, just little
stuff."

 "REALLY?!" Akane, Sash, Tam Lin, and Sugar
chorused. Genma and Soun, listening to the
conversation from the next room, decided that
the sake they had on hand was not nearly
enough.
--------------------
 "Akane's back in school today?" The boy slid
his hockey mask down into place.

 "Yeah, today's the day things get back to
normal." The sumo wrestler grunted. "That
Ranma guy ain't gonna choose Akane, you read
the latest odds. Akane ain't even in the
running."

 "And I thought that Saotome guy was supposed
to be smart," said the boxer with a snicker.
"Oh, here comes Akane!"

 "What's she doing, just cupping her hands
like that?" The Karate Club champion hadn't
seen a move like that before. Must be
something that Ranma guy had taught her.

 "Uhm, are her hands supposed to be
*glowing*?!" The track star decided to move
out of the way, having seen this manuever
before. It had been in a video game.

 "ROLLING THUNDERSTRIKE!"

 A moment later, sedately, almost swaggering,
Akane walked past the various scattered boys
and entered the school. She wasn't about to
be late. It would not be proper.
--------------------
 Soun and Genma entered the kitchen, prepared
to ask Kasumi when lunch would be ready.

 Kasumi hummed merrily as she read a book.
Eggs cracked themselves in midair over a
mixing bowl. Another bowl was being stirred
by a wooden spoon. Ingredients danced a conga
line as they waited their turn to be added.

 Music began to play from something in
Kasumi's Disney collection.

 The two fathers exchanged a glance, and
quietly left. They stopped to watch a bag of
koi pellets waddle out to the pond and shake
some of its fish food out before waddling
back in.

 "You know, Tendo," began Genma. "This kind
of thing *never* happened when the Master was
training us."

 "True, Saotome, very true." Soun's eyes
tracked over the "mecha" that Nabiki was
putting together, the Amazon Sash (still with
her nose buried in a romance manga), the
broom sweeping the back steps by itself, and
shuddered.

 "At least most of the Amazons are gone off
to open that restaurant."

 "Did you hear that Manga No Mori is having a
sale?" Soun smiled as Sash vacated the
premises.

 Genma sighed. "Well at least it's all over."
Thunder rumbled.

 Soun laughed. "Yes, having survived that, we
have nothing to worry about."

 Thunder rumbled again. The shrine at the
back of the dojo crashed to the floor. A crow
died in midair and nearly landed at the feet
of the two fathers.

 "Strange weather you've got here, Tendo."

 "Quite, Saotome, quite."
--------Mimir's Well---------------
 Hephaestus shook his head at that comment.
"Well done, Skuld. So tell me, how does it
end up? Does anyone make a choice or do they
just leave young Saotome hanging?"

 Skuld looked thoughtful. "Hmmm. Well, this
looks like a scene with major consequence,
just under a year after the last one."
------------------------------------
 Ranma didn't look up. "Hello, Ukyou. What's
up?"

 Ukyou didn't say anything for a few moments,
finally just coming to sit next to Ranma and
look out at the stars with him. Ukyou tried
to sort out whatever she wanted to say, and
finally just decided to go with the moment.
"What are you looking at, Ranma?"

 "You see that star there?" Ranma pointed.
"That's the Seshin sun. There are twelve
planets in that system, one a large gas giant
that has two habitable moons. One moon is
mainly tropical ocean with a few islands,
thin but breathable air. The other is frigid,
eternally cold, and has all the factories and
heavy industry."

 "You've been there?"

 "Yeah. The Galaxy Arena Tour was something
the promoters came up with back while I was
still working off that Slave status. Fighting
in a lot of various environments, but mainly
getting kickbacks from the various offices of
Tourism for showing off their resort areas."

 "Oh?" Ukyou paused and noted the way Ranma
made a face as if he'd gotten a bad taste of
something. "So what was the serpent in the
paradise?"

 Ranma looked at her with a little surprise.
"Perceptive. Nabiki never caught that. The
Artificial Intelligences and Genejin weren't
the only slaves there. It wasn't unheard of
for someone to vanish, never to be found
again. Except that they were there in plain
sight, having been retrovirused or nanobotted
to a more pleasing configuration. The average
Joe and Jane discounted the rumors, of
course. But they were there. Slaves talk
among themselves."

 "You bought your freedom." Ukyou had heard
the story before, that first night after
she'd come for vengeance against him. Only to
find this fellow with the sad eyes and more
than two lifetimes of experience under his
belt.

 "It took forty years and then my former
Masters had me on exclusive contract as a
gladiator," Ranma made a little gesture.
"Still, it was a helluva lot better than
being a slave. You don't forget though, after
you've been exposed to the dark and seamy
side of that future paradise."

 "So, Ranchan," Ukyou tried the familiar
nickname to see if he still flinched when she
said it. He didn't. "What brings you out
here, watching the stars and remembering the
bad times you've gone through? Why aren't you
home with Nabiki or Kasumi? For that matter
you seem to get on fairly well with those
Amazons."

 "Nabiki's spending all her time tinkering
nowadays, she rarely leaves her lab if she
doesn't need to." Ranma paused and sighed.
"Kasumi and Doctor Tofu are now an item,
Kasumi's gotten to the point where she can
broadcast calm and overcome Tofu's little
problem. Shampoo, Akane, and the rest of the
Amazons are all back at that village. Akane
wants to meet Mousse's parents."

 Ukyou blinked. "You've been dumped?"

 "I've been dumped." Ranma flicked a pebble
out into the darkness. "Kasumi finds herself
attracted to Doctor Tofu Ono. Nabiki doesn't
want to commit. Shampoo spends all her time
training and developing her new abilities."

 Ukyou nodded and let the silence continue on
for a few moments. "You know, that bit with
your father stealing the yattai..."

 "You want to get revenge against me still?"
Ranma glanced back at her briefly,
disbelieving. Then he returned to studying
the stars. "I thought we'd settled that."

 "Yeah, well," Ukyou reached out to touch the
shoulder of the guy sitting next to her. "The
yattai was to seal our engagement."

 Ranma turned back to Ukyou, his gaze
questioning. Chestnut eyes stared back into
his, affirming.

 "Ah, then. Perhaps?"

 "Perhaps," agreed Ukyou, putting aside the
spatula for now. Maybe there was a better,
happier, option than revenge. She'd have to
see.
------Mimir's Well---------
 "O-kay," Hephaestus said slowly. "I can see
this, kind of. Nabiki's an engineer and we
*do* tend to get caught up in our work.
Especially when everything's new and
exciting. But Kasumi?"

 "Ranma was just too weird for her to handle,
even with esper abilities." Skuld shrugged.
"Hey, maybe at the five year mark?"
--------------------------
Garibaldi III, September 12, 1997
 Ranma stepped out onto the porch, listening
to the surf gently washing up a few meters
away on a strip of beach. He sipped at the
cup of juice in his hands and smiled at the
familiar tart flavor.

 "What's up, Ranma?" Nabiki stepped out of
the shadows, regarding him for a moment. "You
look pensive."

 "You've got the tour business going now,
Nabiki. Kasumi and Doctor Tofu are working in
that clinic in Tokyo. Ukyou's off selling
okonomiyaki to tourists at the beach. Akane's
now working for the Galaxy Police. Shampoo
and her sister Amazons have a planet where
they can expand and remain isolated at the
same time. Pop and Mister Tendo have their
fantasy retirement two islands over. Everyone
has what they wanted."

 "Except you," realized Nabiki.

 "Except me," agreed Ranma. "I wanted to find
peace and have my chance to do what Seyvu and
so many of the others did. Settle down, start
a family, put roots down, and be something
other than the warrior."

 "You wanted to be a nurturer, Ranma. You
succeeded." Nabiki gestured around her. "You
think that I could have started a
multi-trillion dollar business on my own? My
dreams had been to become a millionaire. By
keeping the hyperdrive and antigrav
technology my little secret, I've made the
equivelant of trillions of dollars.
Eventually others will get working models
back where they can be studied, but it was
*MY* work that brought about the New Age on
Earth with offworld exports/imports and
tours.

 "Kasumi would have settled down to be a meek
little housewife, maybe to Doctor Tofu, maybe
not. She's able to use clairvoyant techniques
to see what's wrong with someone, and
telekinetically mend wounds or telepathically
ask the tissues to knit together. She and
Doctor Tofu are *revolutionizing* medicine
with him just figuring out what she's doing.

 "Akane always wanted to be the dashing
heroine. She *is* now, a respected member of
the Galaxy Police and someone feared by evil
doers everywhere.

 "Shampoo wanted a strong husband, but mainly
wanted to be the Champion and a hero to her
people. She *is* - the person who convinced
you and me to find that world and let her
people settle it. They don't have to worry
about the Chinese government or much of
anyone. They've gone from three Amazon
villages to an Amazon Homeworld!

 "Sash is the exception, she's working with
Akane as a junior partner now.

 "Ukyou wanted revenge against you, and to be
the best okonomiyaki chef in Japan. She's now
performing her craft in front of dozens of
lifeforms and selling okonomiyaki to
creatures that were old before the Home
Islands formed!

 "You've been responsible for the raising of
the standard of living for billions on Earth
just by what's happened to the Tendo and
Saotome clans and the ripples from THAT.
You've not only allowed each of us to embrace
our dreams, we've exceeded them!

 "Isn't that enough, Ranma-kun?"

 Ranma looked sadly at Nabiki for a moment,
then shook his head. He'd quietly vanish in
the morning. She didn't get it. Maybe she
never would. Even now she insisted on putting
it mainly in monetary terms. She had her
business, she had her money and knowledge and
control. The engineer and the business woman
wrapped up in one.

 Kasumi was helping people, the healer. Akane
was helping people, the protector. Shampoo
was helping her people, the heroic Amazon.
Ukyou had her Art.

 And Ranma noted that he was where he had
been for several years, still sadly looking
out into the night. Occasionally still
fighting menaces from space or the future or
both. Still hoping, still dreaming.

  Still alone.
---------------
 Morning on a moon of Garibaldi was as
spectacular as ever. The vast gas giant was a
set of stripes and the swirling shapes of
immense storms raging through hundreds of
miles of gas. Lightning flashes would strobe
through the night, but during the early dawn
the colors reflected off the layered
atmosphere of Garibaldi made for impressive
sunrises.

 Ranma left the sleeping household behind.
There was nothing to keep him here after all.
He had made it ten feet away from the door
when he stopped and frowned. His eyes scanned
the area around him, finally settling on an
empty bench near the path to the docks.

 "Psychic invisibility, Kasumi? You're
getting pretty good at this."

 Kasumi dropped the telepathic "don't notice
me" broadcast, fading into plain view. She
smiled slightly. "Going somewhere,
Ranma-kun?"

 "You don't need clairvoyance for that,
Kasumi. Why are you here, not back in Tokyo
with Doctor Tofu?" Ranma paused, settling
against a post to regard the eldest of the
Tendo daughters. She somehow looked more
confident, more centered, than the young girl
he had known five years ago. Her style of
clothes hadn't changed, being simple and
utilitarian in nature.

 "Doctor Tofu loved the me that was. I am no
longer her, at least completely." Kasumi
looked sadly off in the distance for a
moment. "There was a time when I would have
been more than satisfied with the role of a
housewife to a respectable doctor. When
Doctor Tofu needed me more than anyone else.
That's always been among my greatest desires,
you know. To be needed."

 "I know." Ranma nodded. "The Thiskul, in the
quest for Transcedence, refer to it as a
lifefocus. Or that's the nearest translation
of their term."

 "Yes," Kasumi cocked her head a little to
the side. "Tofu-sensei has enough data and
readings and samples to spend his entire life
in research now. I think he began to find me
a little... overwhelming."

 "You're at least a T9 now," pointed out
Ranma. "When I met you, T1 would have been my
best guess. You've come a long ways, in more
ways than one."

 "So, Ranma-kun," Kasumi looked into the
Living Anachronism's eyes, letting him see
her thoughts and feelings, "shall we go?"

 A smile fought its way onto Ranma's face.
"Where?"

 "Where we're needed." Kasumi looked a little
shyly at Ranma, a slight flush creeping up on
her. She'd rehearsed this, and so was both
shy and determined to say what she needed to
say. "Out there. Thataway."

 "Ah, a fine choice." Ranma nodded, feeling
happier than he had in some time. "Thataway
it is, then." He crooked an elbow, which
Kasumi happily took, and the two walked
unnoticed by anyone to the docks and beyond.

 And he was still Ranma Saotome, warrior,
fighter, and sometimes nurturer. Still
fighting menaces from the future and outer
space and both. Still hoping, still dreaming.

 But no longer alone.
-----Mimir's Well-----------------------
 Skuld pointed along the timeline to
Hephaestus. "SEE! They go on to have three
kids. Locke, the antisocial one that freezes
his own age perpetually in adolescence. Talk
about your Peter Pan syndrome.

 "Then there's Justy, he goes on to be a
respected member of the Galaxy Police in what
becomes a family tradition."

 "And the third?"

 "Ah," said Skuld with a smirk, "now HER
story, well, that's a long one and full of
twists and turns and difficulties. And that,
as they say, is another story..."

-----------------------------------
OMAKE OMAKE OMAKE OMAKE OMAKE OMAKE OMAKE

 Soun decided, he had to make some decisions
to keep the dojo afloat. Marriageable age was
sixteen, but one of the Imperial Princesses
had been engaged at ten. Kasumi was sixteen
now, Nabiki fifteen, Akane thirteen. Old
enough to learn about the honor arrangements
they'd been involved in. Two of which could
bring wealth in, the third continuing the
Tendo Legacy!
-----------------
RELATIVE CHOICES an Omake, so don't even
vaguely take this seriously.
-----------------
 Nabiki blinked. "They're rich, but they live
in a place like THIS?!"

 Kasumi and Akane clung to each other as
lightning crackled and a cat howled somewhere
nearby. Their eyes attempted to watch
everything at once. Shadows seemed to move of
their own accord.

 "Now now, it isn't so bad." Soun shook his
head. "They're just a little eccentric."

 All three of the daughters noticed that the
doorbell was a noose. All three of the
daughters screamed when they saw the doorman.

 "You rang?"

 "Yes, Lurch, tell Mister Addams that I
brought my daughters by to meet the future
husband of one of them. And how *is*
Puggsley?"

 "Follow me," Lurch moaned.
------------------

 "...and just think, one of you can marry
Puggsley Addams and go live in that nice big
house, with all the money, and I'm sure if
you ask they'll put in a dojo." Soun finally
stumbled to a halt. If any of his daughters
were listening, it wasn't obvious.

 Nabiki stared straight ahead. She had been
pulled out of the carnivorous plant, but
hadn't recovered from the experience. She
occasionally twitched and shuddered. Soun was
ashamed that one of his daughters was
sufficiently far from her stoic samurai
heritage that being nibbled on and viewing
peristalsis from close up had rattled her
that badly. As for the acid burns, why they
hardly showed with her hair combed like that.

 Kasumi had her little smile but her eyes
were glazed over. She'd bravely offered to
help out in the kitchen, only to learn that
it was far from the safe haven that her own
kitchen was. It had been a horrifying
experience. Even worse had been being
attacked by the entrees. Soun still wasn't
sure what had happened in the kitchen, but he
had noticed the way Kasumi had kept an eye on
the silverware the entire time they were
there. And when that one young girl had said
how much she wanted to serve Kasumi
specifically, his eldest daughter had turned
quite pale.

 Akane was still jumping at shadows and would
likely have to be pried away from Kasumi at
this point. Soun wasn't sure what it was, but
going to play with Wednesday had apparently
been an unsettling experience. Akane also
kept feeling her neck for some odd reason.

 "Well, here we go, this is the second
place."

 "It's clean," Kasumi noted, a tiny bit of
hope in her voice.

 "I don't see any gravestones," Nabiki
observed, but wasn't willing to get her hopes
up at this point. It had only been a day
since visiting the Addams, after all.

 "A big house." Akane calmed a little bit. No
spiders visible either. This was a good sign.

 "This is where the Chardins live, come on,
let's get lunch here." Soun smiled at the
signs of life coming back to his daughters.
------------------------------
 "No, no, no more!" Kasumi's eyes were wild.
That look was mirrored in two other sets of
eyes.

 "Now now, this is the last one. This way
each of my daughters will be engaged to
marry, and everything will be set." Soun
nodded solemnly. "It was quite difficult for
me to track Genma down, but one of you
marrying Ranma will ensure the Tendo legacy.
In fact, this is the most important of the
engagements since it is the oldest and
involves the family property. He's not rich,
but he's supposed to be a pretty good martial
artist."

 "So, whoever marries Ranma gets our house,"
mused Kasumi. Ranma was thirteen. That was
way too young, but all things considered what
was a little age difference?

 "So, whoever marries Ranma gets the dojo,"
mused Akane. Same age. Gets the dojo. No
little sisters with "play rooms" that had
large spiky things and blades and a fondness
for using various venomous creatures. Like
that spider that had been nearly as big as
Akane's head. Okay, he was still a *boy* but
there was a difference between dumb and
ignorant. He could grow up to be something
like Doctor Tofu, you just had to get the
caterpillar to the butterfly stage. And why
had Wednesday wanted her to read that
Necrono-whatsit book?

 "Is he cute? Doesn't have an extendible
mouth or three foot tongue? Hang around with
undead or carnivorous plants? Live in a house
with evil witches?"

 "Yes, the house and dojo. I'm not sure.
Definitely not on the last three. That's
him," Soun pointed to a thirteen year old boy
sparring with his father. "Now remember, you
promised not to mention the engagement to him
until he turns sixteen." Soun became aware
that he was talking to thin air.

 Genma stopped at Ranma's sudden vanishing.

 "Mine!" Kasumi pulled at Ranma's right arm.
She had been selfless long enough. Time to
stand up for what was hers. Her kitchen. Her
house. Not being served on a silver tray with
plum sauce was also on that list.

 "Mine!" Akane disagreed, pulling at Ranma's
left arm. It was for the dojo, after all.
Besides, Ranma was a martial artist, surely
he had more in common with her than either
Picolette or Puggsley.

 "Mine!" Nabiki declared firmly, after all
she could make herself rich and didn't need
to marry into wealth. Ranma was into martial
arts. Big deal, Nabiki could deal with
martial arts. Iron corsets and oral surgery
and forks being thrown by an old witch at one
place, and the other place had plants that
tried to eat you and food that crawled off
the plate and a little sister that whispered
how you'd look with a little plum sauce and
30 minutes at 350 degrees. As both arms were
occupied, Nabiki tried to pull at Ranma's
legs and succeeded accidently at tugging his
pants off.

 "Oops," said all three girls, staring at
what was revealed. Fortunately he was wearing
boxers that day. Unfortunately they'd slid a
little from friction.

 Genma gave a puzzled look to Soun, knowing
that his old friend wouldn't violate their
agreement to keep the engagement secret until
the day they were to make it official.

 Soun rubbed the back of his head. "Must be
love at first sight, ha ha. heh."

 Genma accepted that and looked back to where
Ranma trying to pull his pants back on with
three girls still latched onto him. They were
arguing about who got Ranma. Damn, his son
must be more manly than he had thought!


=============
a few notes. the original "King Of Fighters"
was mainly the first few scenes of this
story. i got a lotta feedback from the FFML,
most negative. comments like "Ranma wouldn't
have any challenges" and "self-insert
wannabe". that the charges were ridiculous
was apparently ignored by these senders.
     Grey, reluctant incubus, a kind-hearted
mortal transformed to a kindhearted demon
through the actions of others, yet continuing
to seek grace IS my self-insert character. i
came up with him specifically to answer the
SI charges. this is how i treat an SI
character. i'm usually kinder to Akane.
FORWARD TO ROWAN:
     you'll also note that there are some
similarities to Rowan's Private Bet #10, i
can only assume this is not unintentional,
but more power to him. it's enjoyable. it's
fun. that's all my fics have ever intended to
be. the rest of it is original, and it's
wonderful seeing someone take my ideas in a
different direction.
     The major differences between the King
Of Fighter/Future Tense Ranma and PB10, and
they are MAJOR differences:
     kof-Ranma wants to retire. he's mature,
can rip his way through a Zentraedi
battalion, and knows martial arts techniques
that Cologne hasn't learned. But, as i'd
tried to hint in the first story and i've
indicated here, he has a longing for
stability and to be the nurturer instead of
the warrior. there comes a time when the
warrior longs to put aside the sword, and
that time has come for this version of Ranma.
What i'm seeing in Ranma10 is he's still
wanting to be in the thick of adventure. Part
of the conflict with kof-Ranma would have
been the desire for a peaceful life vs
adventures that keep hunting him down.
          King-of-Fighters/Future Tense isn't
slapstick "Three Stooges" comedy, nor was it
even really intended as comedy at all. No
attempt at original flavor here. More or less
straight SF/F with more psychological
elements than anything else, entire plotlines
devoted to being a stranger in his own
homeland and the Japanese are *very* hung up
on cultural minutae. It's the culture shock
that's gonna give him more problems. The
culture he just came from is *DARK* - this is
mentioned repeatedly in the story. You can
die and be resurrected in some circumstances,
but life itself has little value. There's
also slavery, racism, assassins, things which
eat other sentients, and a number of other
nasty little elements. On the other hand, in
shining orbital ten-mile long cities, you
don't see the dirt. Ranma worked his way up
from slave, he knows about the dirt.
     lotsa powerups. i'd indicated earlier
how i saw Nabiki becoming sort of a RIFTS
Operator or mechanic, going after power (sort
of) and comfort. Who needs yen when you can
do things yen can't buy for a few thousand
years? i'd played around with the idea of
Kasumi The Psychic Girl and frankly the image
of Kasumi pulling off "Mary Poppins" or other
typical Disney magic scenes is just too
interesting.
     originally i had Akane the victim of a
telepathic mindworm. Eventually she would
have been freed to become the powerful cyborg
warrior/sidekick/apprentice while Ranma tries
to retire from the whole thing with either
Nabiki or Kasumi. (Prob Nabiki due to the
C'ath resemblence.) The nasty treatment of
Akane got some bad response, so here she is,
seriously underpowered but treated much more
gently. A pity though, as it is usual in this
genre to go for "strength through adversity"
so Akane would have gotten _really_ messed up
so that she could be that much a stronger
character later.
     Ranma-10 definitely has the edge in
power. i'd placed Ranma without his armor in
the same level as Son Goku at the end of
Dragonball. With armor, he's just tougher and
more adaptable, sort of like an Iczelion or
something along those lines.

SYSTEM NOTES: yes, my C-drive is gone. all
the bits, pieces, notes, etc are gone. the
problem started in the Temporary Internet
folders and eventually corrupted the BIOS. i
got a friend-of-a-friend to check it out and
the "drive template" was hopelessly
corrupted. Whatever it was, it went through
McAfee VirusShield as that's on my bootup.
Beware...