Ranma 1/3: SOURCE OF PRIDE by Gregg Sharp. v
1.5
char by various sources. this was just an
idea i got reading Mirrors Multiplied, with
an Altiverse where Ranma had been thrown to
the lions. i started wondering about that and
what kind of changes just that act might have
thrown in the timeline, especially with the
press coverage from something so incredibly
showbiz.
 So i started this, planning on using it as
the omake for Expansion Set-Gemini. The rest
of this flowed out and was at 34k before i
got to the part with the repercussions
starting to show. Now look at it.
 Much thanks to various pre-readers (too many
to name)who have suggested a few tweaks and
changes here and there.

 So, yes, this was ANOTHER unintended fic,
but seems to be amusing- which is all that
was intended in the first place.
=============================
 "I don't understand," the Kasumi of Sword9
timeline said, almost frowning. "Why would
Isis and Bast hate Mister Saotome? They
certainly seem nice enough."

 "Kasumi, you prefer to ignore the bad things
about people." The demon nearby sighed. "I
used to do the same thing myself, but it
causes problems to remain longer than they
need to. And that eventually causes more
problems. Let me show you something. The
scene is the same in almost every timeline
with Ranma being raised by Genma."

 Grey made a pass over the waters of Mimir's
Well and a scene sprung to life.
--------------------
 "NO! FATHER! Not again, please not again!"

 "Get in there, worthless boy! Stop whining
like a girl." Genma finished tying his son
up, applied a little fish paste, some fish
oil, and threw the fish-cake festooned boy
into the pit of starving cats. "You can't
come out until you learn the Cat Fist!"
--------------------
 Kasumi turned a little green as the
screaming and pleading turned frantic. She
couldn't seem to blink as the scene continued
with the boy getting gouged and scratched in
the restless and hungry dark. After a few
moments, Kasumi managed a very weak "Oh my."

 "In three realities he tries different kinds
of cats after the first attempt didn't work.
In twelve he just varies the bait. In four he
tries different types of pits and locations.
In another six he tries entirely different
animals on the idea that it might be
something 'close to neko' that was copied
wrong into that manual. (One of these
actually has Ranma learning the dreaded
nikkou ken and is a cheerful happy person.)
In one he actually learns the Cat Fist and
ends up relatively content, but that's very
unusual. There's others, these are just the
ones I've seen.

 "In four, Ranma's permanently crippled in
some fashion. In two, he's demonically
possessed. In four more, he's just plain old
killed. In five more he's pulled out of
Genma's custody by either the police or other
people drawn to the pit by Ranma's screams.
In two more Ranma never does learn the Cat
Fist or anything even close, having escaped
(at least temporarily) from his crazy father
to try and find a life somewhere else. One of
those has him reuniting with his Ucchan when
they're both eight. Six have similar outcomes
to what you're familiar with, the Catfist
only coming out when he's frightened into his
other personality. There's another one where
Ranma learns the Catfist and never comes out
of his feral state, and a final one where a
crippled Ranma makes his way to a Jusenkyo
pool that cures his afflictions.

 Grey sighed. "You realize part of his
immaturity and overweening pride in those
timelines comes from the Catfist training and
similar hardships. After all, if he's not the
best then all this was for nothing. You were
well aware that he woke up screaming on more
than one night from the memories of this
incident alone."

 Kasumi nodded, still staring at the scene.

 "Isis and some of the other goddesses
_really_ dislike Genma for treating his son
like that. Bast and other feline types see
that, plus all the dead kitty cats that
resulted both from the training and from
Ranma's learning the technique." Grey
shrugged. "Not that I approve of Genma, but
he does have his good moments. It's just that
the bad ones stand out so bloody well."

 "What happens in this one?"

 "Hmmm? Oh, this is that Ukyou one. Looks
like the Nekoken was at a different age
here."

 "Is it any happier?" Kasumi blinked and got
a better look at the timeline.
----------1984-----------------
 Ukyou leaned back against the wall, out of
sight. She recognized Genma, and with little
effort could picture that voice in the pit as
belonging to Ranma. She closed her eyes.
Revenge, yes, she wanted revenge. Revenge
against Ranma for pretended friendship.
Revenge against Ranma for leaving her behind.

 "AAAAAaaaaaaa! My eyes! Stay away from my
eyes!"

 Ukyou shuddered and began curling up where
she hid. She could see killing the two, or
beating the royal snot out of them as
revenge. "Dear kami, not like this." Ukyou
cried as the screaming continued, her body
shuddering as she pulled tighter to avoid
hearing what was going on in a vacant lot a
few yards away.
------------------------------
 "Well, come along Ranma. We'll try the
training again elsewhere." Genma swatted
Ranma across the ground when the little boy
flinched. "STUPID BOY! All you have is the
Art. Live it, breathe it, it is your only
friend and companion, your only hope of
redemption."

 "But Ucchan..."

 Genma sighed and rolled his sleeves up. The
boy needed to learn discipline again at the
loving hands of his father. "Ranma. You
remember Ukyou waving goodbye to you, don't
you? Ukyou was saying goodbye because he
didn't want to interfere with your training.
You should respect the boy's wishes. Now,
son, are you coming or are you going to
disgrace Ukyou?"

 "I..." Ranma hesitated, and was therefore
lost. Genma's first blow slapped the boy into
the pipes. He then carefully slammed punches
and kicks into the boy until Ranma stopped
fighting back.

 "Ah, this is regrettable what you make me
do, boy. If you simply accepted my authority,
we wouldn't have these problems."

 Ukyou ducked her head back down from the
fence, tears again forming in her eyes.
Vengeance against Ranma was quickly looking
less like it was necessary. Anything she
could do, Ukyou saw Ranma's father as having
outdone her already. Genma was the only one
she wanted revenge against right now.

 What could she do, though? She wasn't any
older than Ranma. Her mother was dead, her
father given only a few months more, no
relatives to speak of. There was no way she
could fight Genma. How could she avenge
herself?
------------------------------
 "Okay, boy." Genma grinned down at the
blanket containing his son. He was sure it
would work this time. Third time's the charm,
after all. He'd gotten bigger cats, a
different bait, and found a really impressive
location called the Pit Of The White Wyrm.
Odd how all the cats had *really* fought
being put in the pit, and they'd been quite
noisy at first, but they were quiet now. All
that remained was his son, already tied up
with smelt and daintily garnished with some
stolen caviar and sun-warmed fish oil. "Time
for you to learn the Cat Fist!"

 Genma lifted the blanket, and with a
flourish, tossed the contents into the pit.

 After a few moments the smile faded from
Genma's face. No scream of anguish. No
howling from the cats. No shrieking from his
son. How odd.

 A moped shot past from a few yards away, an
object wrapped in a blanket tied into place
at the rear. A strangely familiar looking
child made a rude hand gesture as the vehicle
sped away.

 Genma blinked twice, his gaze focussing on
the blanketed object as it became concealed
by the meandering of the path through the
trees. "But I haven't taught him the Cat Fist
yet..."
---------------------
 "Don't worry about it, Ucchan," Ranma
groaned a little and stretched out. "Pops and
me tended to avoid the holy places, so this
shrine ought to do fine tonight."

 "Ranchan, you just don't get what that baka
father of yours was putting you through, do
you?" Ukyou shook her head. "But then, that's
the only kinda parenting you've had, ain't
it?"

 Ranma shrugged, not sure what he could say.
"I gotta go back to him, y'know. He *is* my
Pop."

 "Ranma he beat you, he threw you into a pit
of starving cats, he defiled a shrine just to
get you up to that 'Pit of the White Wyrm'
thing, he lies and he cheats everyone whose
path he crosses. AND he's a poor bargainer.
That yattai cost a helluva lot more than the
price of just one meal, even as much as he
eats. Don't go back to him!"

 Ranma looked at his friend again. "Well,
yeah. But he means well."

 "Did he also mean well by abandoning me?"

 "Uhm. No?"

 "Ya got that right at least." Ukyou sighed.
"Now we just gotta figure out our next step.
Besides, if we go back to him now, he'll just
abandon me again."

 "I s'pose," Ranma looked out into the night.
"Still, we're only eight. What the hell we
gonna do?"

 "Attend school, learn the martial arts, and
study the paths of honor," came a voice from
the darkness. The shrine priest stepped
forward from the shadows, almost seeming to
teleport from nowhere to the two startled
children. A faint smile tugged at his face,
yup, he still had it.
-----------1985----------
 "You really want to do this?" Ukyou thought
the whole thing was silly. Just some old
fashioned idea that Tenchi had read about
then Ranma had gotten enthusiastic about.

 One of her own spatulas was used to make a
small cut on the hand.

 Then they shook hands. Ukyou not only
thought this was silly but gross, but put it
down to them being boys. Then Tenchi read
some of the old words from one of the scrolls
that his grandpa kept hidden. They didn't
make much sense, but seemed to fit somehow in
that spooky old cave.

 Ukyou didn't like that cave much. She always
felt as if someone were watching her.

 "Blood brothers," said Ranma with a gleam in
his eye. NOW he had a brother. This was cool.

 "and sister!" Ukyou put in, wiping her hand
absent-mindedly. Maybe at least THIS would
get the jackass to start taking her
seriously.
-----------1986-----------------
 Tenchi noted that his two friends had
abruptly stopped talking and went into guard
positions. He exchanged a glance with the
fourth member of their quartet (which was
referred to as the Kolkoz  Elementary Junior
Martial Arts Club by some critics). She
shrugged in reply, clearly at a loss as well.
"What's wrong? Ranma? Ukyou?"

 "Ranma," a large man near the gate repeated,
a satisfied look coming over him. "Finally."

 "Father," acknowledged Ranma after a moment.
He didn't relax. Ukyou, at his side as
always, looked ready to launch herself at the
bigger man.

 "It's been two years, son. Time to go."
Genma looked over the three. None of the four
ten year olds (though one was just mature
looking for her age) would be sufficient to
challenge him. He had known that staking out
the schools would eventually net him results.
"You disappoint your father so. Showing fear
from such a little thing."

 "I ain't scared a nuthin'!" Ranma eyed his
father and wished he had his sword with him.

 "Boy," said Genma with a threatening tone to
his voice. "Come along. NOW."

 "I ain't abandonin' Ucchan."

  Genma eyed the four children. Each had
settled into a stance he well recognized. It
was a loose martial arts stance of Anything
Goes. For ten year olds, they showed
remarkable promise. There was an immediate
temptation here for Genma, the teacher who
finds an exceptional student and wants to
bring out that student's gifts. This was the
promise gleaming in all four of these
children.

 Genma shook his head. He had enough trouble
taking care of Ranma.  The long and winding
road, constantly on the move, on the run and
living in the shadows was the only way he
knew for sure that would make Ranma a true
martial artist. Ranma had to live, breathe,
and sleep the Art. Having friends or a home
would only detract from that all consuming
dedication.

 Well, he'd tried to be reasonable. Once on
the road, he could break the boy's will to
his own once again. In order to make a sword,
you had to beat all the impurities out, to
beat and beat and beat it until the metal was
pure. "Oy Toh Shoh!"

 The four scattered as Genma went from
threatening to a blur of motion. The last of
the four fell thirty seconds after the fight
had started. Genma was impressed that they
had managed to last that long. The murmur of
the crowd of students didn't concern him,
after all, he was the father and he had the
right to discipline his child.

 Slinging the limp Ranma over his shoulder,
he left the others. Genma was certain they'd
forget all about this in a few months time.
They were children after all.

 More than one child watched fearfully as one
of their number was carried off by the evil
man who had appeared and attacked without
warning.

 One of the onlookers  ran forward as one of
the girls had come to his defense when HE had
been facing some bullies. This despite the
gulf (two years) in ages between them.
"Mako-chan? Tenchi-san? Ukyou-san?"

 "I'm OK, Keiichi." Makoto groaned anyway as
she regained her feet.

 Tenchi wiped blood from his face as he got
up. "So Ranma's father is back."

 "That was him," confirmed Ukyou.

 "He's the one that tried to feed Ranchan to
those cats?" Makoto glared in the direction
the adult had apparently left in.

 "He's tried to feed his son to some cats?" A
girl who had run forward looked over the four
for confirmation. "That's horrible!"

  Four heads nodded in unison.

 Nobody could remember later who actually
said it. Everyone present just chimed in with
agreement with the sentiment.

 "Genma Saotome! I swear VENGEANCE upon you!"

 Everyone remembered the lightning crackling
dramatically. They also remembered the
teachers taking the description of the evil
man down. There would be a reckoning.
Eventually.
------------Mimir's Well-------------
 "Oh my."

 The demon chuckled. "Oh, Genma has really
put his foot in it in this timeline. Guess he
was a little miffed about all the time he
lost looking for his son."

 "What's he doing there, two days later?"
Kasumi9 pointed at a spot of different color
along the thread.

 The demon examined it. "#@#$#!! Even Genma
wouldn't..."

 "Oh my!"
-----------------------------------------
 "NO, I don't wanna!"

 The sound of flesh striking flesh echoed in
the room. "BOY! How many times do I have to
tell you! A true martial artist is afraid of
nothing if it will make him stronger!"

 "But..."

 Genma sighed. The boy was stubborn. Two
years had seen the collapse of most of the
control that Genma had over his son and Heir.
No matter how much he beat on Ranma, the boy
balked at the simple training exercise. He
lashed out at the bound child again. "Accept
that I know what is best for you, son! Ah my
son, you must learn discipline and honor from
my hands again. Would that I had not sired
such an ungrateful and foolish boy. You act
like a girl, all foolish and weak! Perhaps I
should get you a dress."

 "You..." The remainder of what Ranma was
going to say was lost as his wind was driven
out by a kick into the abdomen.

 "DON'T raise your voice at me," said Genma
regretfully. He truly regretted this, but
Ranma had to be free of weaknesses such as
compassion. A few more blows to head and
stomach reduced Ranma's complaints to a weak
groan.

 Finally satisfied, Genma tied the meat into
place. "I couldn't round up enough cats, but
I figured that one big cat ought to be enough
to replace a lot of smaller ones. And surely,
if one large cat was good, several would be
better. Go now, and learn the Cat Fist!"

 Genma tossed his son to the lions.
-----------Mimir's Well-------------------
 Kasumi9 had a faint green tint to her skin
that was not the result of lighting.

 Grey turned on hearing a low hiss and noted
that Bast had snuck up, curious as a cat, and
now was staring with teeth drawn at the
images being displayed.

 "Guess he's *really* concerned about that
lost time, isn't he?"

 The screams of a child being mauled by lions
abruptly cut off.

 There was silence for a few heartbeats.
Kasumi9 couldn't even manage an "oh my."

 "Well, at least the zookeepers arrived and
got the paramedics." Grey said, breaking the
silence.

 "But hiss fatherrrr got away," growled Bast
in her leonine form. She wasn't at all happy.
Some of the lions were mauling each other
now, and the indications were that after
having tasted human flesh, they'd be put to
sleep as a safety measure. "Parrrramedicsss
not in time. Unlessss."

 "Unless?" Grey blinked. "Bast, you wouldn't
interfere in this timeline would you?"

 "Yourrrr powerrr level not enough to light a
match," Bast looked over the demon with
obvious disdain. "Besidesss, he wasss hurrrt
by lionsss. My jurrrisdiction."

 "What are you doing?" Kasumi9 glanced
between the timeline and Bast.

 "Interrrferrring," Bast growled in reply.
"Norrrmal timeline hass boy die frrrom
wounds. Fatherrr not suffer until yearrrs
laterrr. I fix this two waysss."

 "A different sort of Catfist?" The demon
wasn't expert at reading the streams of manna
that Bast wove, but could make a guess. One
small one set up for a bigger one later.

 Bast merely grinned in reply.
-------------------------
 The boy disappeared shortly after being
released from ICU. Videocameras revealed that
his father had come for him.

 Officers Ogino and Miya exchanged a glance
and entered another report into the
"G-files." G for Genma Saotome, now
positively identified as the suspect.

 "How many charges of Breaking and Entering
now?" Officer Koetsu Ogino looked
heavenwards.

 "Twenty-five." Officer Kanuka Miya consulted
her notebook.

 "Assault?"

 "Thirty seven."

 "Child Abuse?"

 "Nine with witnesses, mainly what he's done
to his son."

 "Vandalism? Petty Theft?"

 "Fifty nine, and I lost track around eighty
six. Not counting rolling the drunks in the
park or the smashed pachinko machine."

 "You know, if the papers get ahold of
this..."

 Kanuka shook her head. "The press will
scream at the mayor. The mayor will scream at
the chief. The chief will scream at the
sergeant. The sergeant will proceed to take
it all out on us."

 "I'm beginning to feel like that Zenigata fe
llow," confided Officer Ogino. "We're lagging
a few steps behind a master thief, always
arriving just *after* he's made his mark."

 "He's hardly a *master* thief, but he *is*
fast."

 "Officers," an orderly held up a phone at
the desk. "It's for you. There's been another
sighting."

 Ogino took the phone and mumbled into it
briefly. Finally he nodded and talked to the
doctor briefly.

 Miya clucked at the expression on her
partner's face. "That bad?"

 "He apparently saw a paper. It's out. The
press is calling for him to be caught and
publicly tried. He was spotted in Yokohama,
and it's thought he's on a Chinese
freighter."

 "Great," Miya's tone left no illusion as to
what she thought of that. "What'd the doctor
say?"

 "With some of the internal organ damage done
to the boy, he's going to need medication on
a regular basis. Some exotic stuff, too."

 "Oh, so." Miya scowled. "Well, in that case,
we ought to add Manslaughter. The kid ain't
gonna get that sort of thing on some Chinese
ship."
-------------------------------------------
 Soun Tendo lowered his newspaper, twitching
slightly. "He said he was taking his son
Ranma on 'rigorous training' trips to learn
the martial arts." His eye went to the
headline again "Father Throws Son To Lions,
Then Steals Him From Hospital" and he felt
his eyes mist over. Why, he could remember
the Master doing similar things to his two
pupils. Just not lions.

 Worse was the way this story seemed to have
caught the imaginations and attention of the
nation. Even a "Mothers Against Genma
Saotome" group had formed and was calling for
his public execution.

 The tide of emotion erupted from Soun in
spectacular fashion. "Genma! What about our
promise to unite the schools by marrying one
of my daughters to your son?!"

 There was the sound of a dish breaking in
the immediate silence. Soun looked up from
his paper to see his three daughters staring
in his direction. "Oh, ahem. Well, I..."

 Nabiki, a precocious eleven-year-old, took
another rice cracker from the stack and
waited to hear from her father. "This is
gonna be good."

 "Get out your hip waders," completed ten
year old Akane, remembering Nabiki's comment
during that "Get Rich Quick" scheme their
daddy had *almost* bought into.

 "Oh dear." Kasumi said, looking down at the
plate she had dropped. She was only thirteen.
Still, the princess had been engaged at age
ten, so there *was* a precedent. How
romantic!
-------------------
 Nodoka Saotome lowered the newspaper, now
*knowing* why the police had been questioning
her. Blinking, she began to think about manly
and what Genma had done in trying to meet
that standard. The article had glossed over
the details of the wounds, though muscle and
flesh had need to be grafted and resewn. The
last paragraph, about the child needing
medication, was quite fresh in her memory.

 The associated article about "Martial Dad
Leaves Trail Of Crimes" had also quite stuck
in her mind. She wanted Genma to teach Ranma
to be manly? What *was* Genma teaching Ranma?
Peeping was one thing, and small theft might
be needed, but what kind of manliness was
Genma teaching her son?

 Ranma's mother spent quite a length of time
thinking about this, and considered the
possibility that she had made an error of
judgement.
------------------
 The teachers read the article to their
students. Some cried, others renewed their
vows of vengeance, while still others weren't
quite sure what to do.

 One did. Ukyou Kuonji stood atop her desk
and renewed her vow of vengeance. "GENMA
SAOTOME! I WILL MAKE YOU PAY A THOUSANDFOLD
FOR THIS!"

 "Sit down, Miss Kuonji. You can have your
dramatic spotlight later. It says here that
Genma fled to China, so you can't go there
yet."

 "Yes, teacher." Ukyou nodded. She'd need to
learn Chinese to track him down. And she'd
need to prepare. Her martial arts skills
would have to be much better. Genma would
*pay* for this.
---------------
 On a ship crossing the Sea Of Japan, Genma
frowned. Ranma had gotten steadily sicker
after leaving the hospital. He couldn't be
faking this much. It was said that the lion
would keep push his own cubs down a cliff to
ensure that only the ones strong enough to
climb back up would survive. Of course, that
meant that some of the cubs didn't make it.

 The conclusion was obvious. He had failed.
Ranma wasn't strong enough to survive the
rigours of training. Genma shook his head,
then glanced over at some battlescarred old
tomcat that was batting about an old Chinese
pamphlet.

 Taking it, Genma looked briefly at the
pictures with Japanese titles. The main text
was in Japanese. "Healing Springs?! Nichieju
Village? It's perfect!"
--Mimir's Well-----------
 "Uhm, Bast? Jusenkyo doesn't have a healing
spring."

 "Jusendo comes up in morrre than one place,
yesss?" Bast blinked green eyes at her two
bipedal colleagues. "Besides, sprrring drrry
up perrriodically."

 "The Amazons have a connection to you, don't
they? Hence all the cat references." Grey
looked from the goddess Kasumi to the
catqueen and wondered at what they had been
discussing privately.

 Bast grinned and looked both smug and
mysterious. This was something all cats could
do quite well.
----------------------
 Genma took the weakly coughing ten year old
and lifted him bodily and tossed him into the
spring. The boy was stubborn though, and kept
coming up. Genma lifted a pole to shove Ranma
out into the waters again, knowing that he'd
seen the Amazons come here periodically and
leave looking refreshed. He'd checked, this
had to be the healing spring.

 A shriek let him know that he'd been spotted
but it was just a little girl with purple
hair. Unfortunately, Genma knew that meant
that more Amazons would be coming at any
moment.

 "<Quickly! A stranger is drowning a child in
the village water supply!>"

 Genma fled, knowing he could come back for
Ranma later. Maybe he ought to leave him in
the hospital a little longer this time,
though.
-----------------
 "Pneumonia, Lilac?"

 "Some rather severe injuries on the boy."
Lilac blinked owlishly at the group.
"Actually, I'm surprised he's still alive. He
shouldn't be."

 "Well, I noticed the sutures. I take it
there's infections?"

 "Everywhere, Cologne, it's hard to find
anything working as it should." Lilac sighed.
"Besides the obvious injuries, from some kind
of tiger maybe, he's gotten infected along
the suture lines in several places. He was
put back together by experts, but he's
obviously not been in the cleanest of
surroundings since he was operated on.

 "That he's still alive is miracle enough.
For him to recover is too much to ask. I'll
do my best, but I don't want to mislead you
on the odds."

 The Elders nodded. The boy might have been
an outsider male, but he was a child. And in
the village, children were a precious
resource.

 "Do what you can," Cologne agreed. "If he
dies, it's too bad. If he lives, though, then
he's strong enough to be adopted into the
tribe."
---------------------
 Nodoka turned back, regretfully. Two months
had passed since she had read of her
husband's exploits. One month to follow the
suspect ship and end up in an odd Chinese
village with her equally odd companion.

 The reporter was simply pursuing her job.
Hekiru Yamamoto, young reporter for a Tokyo
Daily who had hoped to be at the reunion of
mother and the mutilated son. ESPECIALLY she
had wanted to be there when the mother met
the father responsible for crippling her son.
Pictures of THAT meeting would have made her
a respectable sum.

 Nodoka glanced back over the village again
before getting on the bus. It had been a dead
end, and it was her fervent hope that this
was NOT an indication of how her son was
faring.

 Hekiru watched the woman board the bus
before turning back. She wasn't going to let
it go this easily. If she found either of the
two, this could be the story that
springboarded her career.

 Now, where to check next?
----------1987-------------
 "Operator."

 "Yes, the number for a Nodoka Saotome
please." Nabiki jotted the number down and
called it, only to get no answer from the
phone. Disappointed, Nabiki hung up.

 "What are you doing, Nabiki?" Kasumi asked
her twelve year old sister.

 "I found out from Daddy that his pal's name
is Genma Saotome. I checked some of his old
papers..."

 "Nabiki! You've been going through father's
things?" Kasumi was shocked.

 Nabiki made a face. "Anyway, Genma married
Nodoka. There's a Nodoka Saotome in Juuban."

 "This isn't right, Nabiki."

 "So you aren't curious? One of us is
supposed to marry this guy, after all."

 Kasumi's mouth shut with a click. "You'll
let me know what you find out?"

 "No problem, sis."
----------1988---------------
 "Ranma! What are you doing?"

 Ranma blinked up at his adoptive sister.
"Oh, hi, Shampoo. Uhm, well..."

 "You've been watching the warriors learn
Secret Techniques again, haven't you?"
Shampoo rolled her eyes. Here was her
brother, apprentice Healer, but doing the
same crazy stunts he'd always pulled.
Ignoring the Elders and trying to learn
special fighting techniques much too soon.
Maybe that was why they got along so well.
"You *know* you're not supposed to exert
yourself like that! Don't you remember what
happened when you tried to master the
Breaking Point?"

 "Yeah," Ranma said slyly. "You caught me and
then we snuck off and mastered the
technique."

 "Damn straight. So what is this one?"

 "They call it 'Chestnuts Roasting On An Open
Fire' and it's some sort of speed
training..."

 Unseen by the two children, a shadow moved
away from the small fire and their little
game. Cologne smiled. She had been afraid
that something else would happen between the
twelve year olds, but it was all martial arts
and training.

 Much safer than the alternative. It wouldn't
do for Shampoo and a weak fighter like Ranma
to *ahem* get too close. Brother and sister
was fine, however.

 Cologne smiled a little. Shampoo hadn't let
up on the warrior training, but she had
opened up a lot more since gaining a brother.
Now she was even getting a few friends among
the other children.

 The Matriarch found herself well pleased
that her great granddaughter was laughing and
enjoying herself a lot more.
-----------1990---------
 Nabiki, Kasumi, and Akane at long last met
the woman Nabiki had been speaking
infrequently with for a little over two years
now. Nabiki had met her near their home last
year, but this was not only the first time
her sisters had met her, this was her home.

 Other than that one meeting, they'd only
talked on the phone- mainly when another
'Demon Dad' article showed up in the paper.
Genma left a trail of debts, outraged
shopkeepers, and hostile officials that the
reporter still followed. Anything Goes
indeed.

 The most recent one had indicated that, even
though the son was no longer with the father,
that the father kept returning to one area in
China as if looking for something.
Invariably, he would return to another
village, looking as if he had been in some
great battle.

 Nodoka Saotome took one look at the three
charming young ladies and was ready to adopt
the flock as her own on the spot. Maybe, if
her son *was* alive, she could... If only the
Japanese government wasn't so set against
polygamy!

 "So Mrs Saotome, is this a picture of Ranma
when he was younger?" Nabiki pointed to a
picture showing a young boy laughing as he
played with fingerpaints.

 "Yes," Nodoka hesitated but finally produced
another set of photographs. "These are the
most recent ones I have, they were taken by
the doctors and police when Ranma was in that
hospital."

 The pictures were somewhat gruesome but the
young ladies were courageous, with the hearts
of samurai.

 "EEEeeeewwwww," summed up fourteen year old
Akane.

 Okay, maybe they were still little girls.

 "Here's one where he's not on an operating
table," said Kasumi a few moments later,
looking a little green herself.

 Nabiki opened her eyes and tried to figure
out what he'd look like without all the tubes
stuck him, and without suture lines, and with
all the chunks put back into place. He might
look halfway presentable, sort of. And he'd
started out as such a cute kid! "Is he... "
Nabiki stopped short of asking if the boy was
still alive.

 Nodoka either didn't notice, or pretended
not to. They'd both read the article. The
reporter herself had thought that maybe the
Demon Dad was insane and looking for a dead
son. OR the injuries came because he had
settled on a lookalike and was trying to
steal him away from his natural parents.

 Kasumi looked over the photographs and
wondered how Ranma could have survived. This
was enough to firm her decision to study
nursing.

 Akane wondered anew at the kind of father
that would do such an evil deed. She decided
that if she ever ran into this Ranma, she'd
have to be extra nice to him.

 Nabiki wondered who paid for the whole thing
and if Ranma still required expensive
medications. He might be high maintenence.

 There was a brief silence, broken only by
Akane asking what this meant as far as the
engagement went.

 "When Nabiki mentioned the engagement, I was
rather surprised." Nodoka said in a low
voice. "I really do need to speak with your
father regarding this." Maybe, if that nice
member of the Diet...
------------------
 Ranma's hand snuck out and pulled the amulet
from its case. Lilac wouldn't mind if he took
a look at this. Well, maybe she would, but
Auntie Lilac had just given him a strange
look everytime he brought up the Nice Lady or
The Lion-Ghost.

 They'd visited his dreams on occasion.
Telling him of things that he could do,
things that he needed to do, and things he
must not do.

 "If you take the path of Jusenkyo," had
whispered the Nice Lady, "forever it will
dominate your destiny."

 This had been followed by the Lion Ghost
whispering something about movie references.

 Ranma stuck his tongue out between his teeth
as he opened the box that the amulet was in.
The Nice Lady and the Lion Ghost had argued
(!) about this. Nice Lady said don't do this.
Lion Ghost said that he should.

 The final incentive had been when the Lion
Ghost had said that with it, he wouldn't be a
cripple anymore. To have both arms and legs,
not a ragged stump for a left arm and the
plastic foot-ankle piece that composed his
right leg. To be whole again.

 Such a simple thing, a carving in crystal of
a cat. Though the eye seemed to slip over it,
and what kinda cat was this anyway?  Ranma
couldn't look at it, due to the fear that
threatened to overwhelm him with the
memories. He did note that it looked like a
lion one minute, or a housecat, or something
else entirely. Ranma slipped the rawhide
thong over his head and prayed.

 Then the pain hit and Ranma screamed.
-----Mimir's Well--------
 Kasumi-9 whimpered in sympathy and turned
her eyes away from the scene.

 Grey glared at Bast. "Why?"

 "No pain, no gain." The lion grinned but
didn't bother to look at the incubus or the
probationary goddess. Newbies.

 "That's *not* what I meant. I understand the
Law Of Sacrifice."

 The lion cocked her head slightly but still
didn't look away from the scene. "Why? Why do
*this* to him? Simple, there's a species of
cat that's on the endangered lists that I'm
rather fond of. Why the pain? Law Of
Sacrifice, as you've said. Law Of Balance,
too. Besides, I'm rather fond of this Ranma.

 "Being crippled and dependent, he's become
less proud. He's learned to cooperate with
others. Through the pain and his medical
studies, he's learned quite a bit about the
burdens that others bear. Therefore he's
learned sympathy and consideration. Through
having experiences with two sisters and a
brother, if only by name, he's learned much
of himself.

 "Leaving him crippled and twisted
physically, if whole mentally, isn't amusing.
THIS will be."

 "Oh my!" Kasumi had glanced back at the pool
and saw what had become of Ranma.
----1991------------
 "NO, Mousse."

 "Get out of my way, you...?!" Mousse
blinked. "When did you get your arm back? No
matter. I am ready for your speed this time.
You will not keep me from being reunited with
my Shampoo."

 "She said NO. She meant it. C'mon Mousse,
just try giving her some room. You can't
possibly beat her, and that leaves winning
her on HER terms."

 "AND WHOSE FAULT IS IT THAT SHE'S LEARNED
ALL THESE SPECIAL MANUEVERS!" Mousse roared
to the heavens.(1) "It's YOU! You've taught
her all those tricks. YOU are the one whose
filled her silly head with those stupid
notions from your homeland! YOU are the
obstacle to my life with Shampoo."

 "Excuse me," came a familiar voice. Shampoo
stepped out of the doorframe. "Silly? Stupid?
My brother is the only obstacle?"

 "Shampoo!" Mousse started forward as the
sight of the object of his obsession came
before him.

 "Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken!" Shampoo's fists
blurred forward.

 Ranma winced, then waited for Shampoo to go
back in before he addressed the heap lying on
the ground. "Uhm, Mousse. Next time you want
to insult my sister, DON'T yell. Especially
don't yell outside her window. Better yet,
don't insult her at all. She's much more
clever than a lot of people give her credit
for."

 "She'll come to love me," Mousse mumbled
into the dirt. "I know she will. I'm strong
enough. She *will* be mine."

 "Mousse, why not give it a rest at least for
a while. Absence makes the heart grow fonder,
y'know. She's not interested in you right
now. Pursuing her like this only makes you an
annoyance, not a suitor."

 "She's just playing hard to get. I know deep
down she loves me too. Like an outsider like
you could ever understand OUR ways." Mousse
pushed himself off the ground unsteadily.
"For poisoning Shampoo's mind against me, I
WILL have my revenge."

 Shampoo eased away from the door. Ranma now
looked handsome and exotic with the odd
changes he'd undergone. He still had some
problems with his endurance, but having both
arms and legs and having filled out so much
had definitely increased the amount of
interest in him from a number of the
warriors.

 In a way it was a pity that he was her
brother, Shampoo mused, as he was definitely
a good healer and not a bad warrior at all.

 Shampoo grinned a little as she considered
some possibilities.

(1) (Hmmm. The Mousse That Roared. Sounds
like a good fanfic title.)
--------------------
 Akane leapt forward, her bokken a fierce
storm of blows.

 Calm met her storm. Each motion circular,
without fuss or waste.

 Akane began to get flustered. "C'mon,
Kasumi! Fight back!"

 Nodoka watched two of her three students and
sighed. It was always the same. Of the three,
only Akane had the fighting potential and
spirit. All three had the basics down. Only
one had any gift with the sword. "BREAK!"

 Nodoka Saotome changed partners so that
Akane would get a little bit more of a
workout. Kasumi was very good- at blocking.
She had almost no skills as an attacker.
Nodoka had found a friend to teach Kasumi
aikido once a week, and had hopes that
eventually Kasumi would make a decent
fighter.

 Nabiki wasn't very good at the sword,
either. OR at hand to hand. She HAD turned
out to be ambidextrous, and paired weapons
was something she had some skill at. Given a
pair of tonfa, hanbo, or gunsen - she could
be devastating.

 Nodoka watched dispassionately as Akane
launched attack after attack which were all
seamlessly deflected. Akane had learned from
past sessions and had closed her defenses
somewhat, and Nabiki's few counterstrikes
failed to land.

 Finally, Akane stopped, the bokken's tip
less than an inch from Nabiki's breastbone.

 "Winner Akane," Nodoka noted aloud. It was
interesting how each of the three had
responded to her training in different ways.

 Akane, the most enthusiastic, had taken to
the martial arts training quite well. Her
cooking... well, it had improved. Especially
the curry. Unless she started getting
enthusiastic.

 Kasumi was quite the opposite. In cooking
and the traditional feminine skills, she had
as much talent and potential as Akane did in
the martial arts. Now she'd had to slack
somewhat from her martial arts training as
she went to nursing school. Akane had the
fire of passion, whereas Kasumi tended to be
like water and generally more calm and slow
to anger.

 Nabiki was middle-of-the-road in both
departments. Clever and intelligent, and
marked with considerable curiosity, she
didn't have the clear mastery in a specific
field but was doing quite well at the juku.

 Nodoka allowed herself a little smile as she
herded the little flock into the furo. If her
son did indeed live, and the engagement did
go through, how could he possibly choose?

 Or maybe, if that inconspicuous line in that
little and otherwise completely unrelated
bill passed, he wouldn't have to.
--------------------
 "So, Keichi, you'll be going to Nekomi Tech?
That's great."

 "Yeah, I've always been fascinated with
gadgetry and engines." Keichi shrugged.
"Sorta my destiny, I guess."

 Tenchi looked over at his old friend and
raised an eyebrow. "You gonna get the chance
to come out to the shrine any? Ukyou really
likes you."

 "Not as much as she does Ranma," replied
Keichi with a sad smile. Why couldn't he have
someone the way that Ukyou and Ranma had each
other?

 "Hey, you hear from Makoto?"

 "Kino-san or Mizuhara-san?."

 "Kino, of course. She's doing pretty well
for living mainly on her own."

 "She still call you sempai?"

 "Yeah, don't know why though." Tenchi shook
his head. "Anyway, she's started acting
pretty mysterious. Can't reach her anymore by
phone. Sometimes I'll get a little note with
the latest 'Demon Dad' article, but that's
about it. I wonder what she's up to."

 "Probably all sorts of things." Keichi
sighed and studied the poster of the latest
idol adorning the train station wall. "She's
two years younger than you, Tenchi. Four
years younger than me. Just a kid."

 "Don't let *her* hear you say that."
-------------------
 "You ready, Shampoo?"

 Shampoo wrapped herself tighter around her
brother and tried to ignore the feelings that
being this close to him brought forth. She
was *quite* aware during times like these
that there was no blood relation.

 Especially with Great Grandmother reversing
her earlier stand against the two of them.
Amazing what having a whole body and a few
new tricks could do.

 "I'm ready. Now remember, brother, when you
start to tire - stop. Don't go getting all
male-stubborn. This is partly to help your
endurance."

 "Yeah, I know. Thanks, sis." Ranma settled
himself a little bit with Shampoo in the
Fireman's Carry position. Taking a deep
breath, he started to run.
-------------------
 "eeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeee!"

 Lilac looked across the Amazon valley to see
the trail of dust that marked Ranma
attempting to run while carrying Shampoo. She
clucked as she realized that Ranma was barely
breaking 45kph. Less than half his usual
speed.

 "That's Ranma," noted Azure.

 "Yes. That's my apprentice in the Healing
Arts, though he's also learned quite a bit of
the warrior's trade. The amulet transformed
him into a werecheetah, and now acts as a
control on his abilities. He spends a lot of
time in his hybrid shape, refuses to go into
the catlike form, and the rest of the time is
in his human form. Other than a streak of
blonde hair and having both arms and legs
restored, his human form is unchanged."

 Chun Li smiled as she noted the faint blush
on cousin Azure's cheeks. So an exotic
looking man had gotten to the younger Amazon.
Well, Chun Li could remember a few guys in
Hong Kong who'd caught her interest.

 Not that Ryu and this guy had anything in
common.
--------------------
 Mousse came running up, and gaped at the
sight. There was Ranma and, and, Shampoo!
Ranma was wheezing and his hair was all
mussed up and he looked blonde! But it was
definitely him as nobody else wore that
clothing style.

 Worse was when Shampoo picked herself off
the ground, grinning like a maniac, leaves
and dust in her hair which was also in
disarray. Her...clothing was ripped! HIS
clothing was ripped! Brother and sister -
yeah, right! They must have been?! Could
they?!

 Mousse nearly fainted when Shampoo,
laughing, swept Ranma up and twirled him
around in a tight embrace. Then the filter of
red snapped into place.

 "Die, you FIEND!" Mousse ran forward and
launched an attack.

 Ranma ducked the bladed chain and countered.
Unfortunately, Mousse's glasses were covered
by dust or he would have noticed the fur on
Ranma. Ranma found out what occurred when he
did a "Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire"
attack while in werecheetah hybrid form.

 "Eeeewwww," said Shampoo five seconds later.
"Good thing you're a healer."
-------Mimir's Well--------
 "Hey, isn't that?" Grey pointed to a scene
far away from Ranma's current location in the
timeline.

 Bast hissed.

 Kasumi looked at the two and at the scene.
"Isn't that Ryouga? But who's that talking to
him?"

 "We haven't met, have we? Ares, Greco-Roman
sector."  The figure in the timeline appeared
before them. "I was *so* concerned about poor
Ranma not getting a decent workout..."

 "Meaning you didn't want to see a happy
ending here," Grey managed.

 Ares idly made a flicking motion and swatted
the reluctant incubus into a wall. "True," he
allowed a moment later. "Hate, fear,
distrust, loathing, conflict, these are all
my meat and drink. Besides, Bast, you
interfered on the behalf of the Light- that
gives me the right to intervene on behalf of
the Dark."
--------------------------
 Ryouga looked at the odd amulet that the man
had given him and wondered what it was
supposed to do. Just some amulet engraved on
one side with the kanji for wolf, and on the
other side was the kanji for man. Really odd
looking.

 The man had repeatedly said that his future
happiness would be destroyed by a boy named
Ranma Saotome. Looking the odd man in the
eyes, Ryouga had become certain that the man
was speaking the truth, and the only way for
Ryouga to stop this Ranma was to use this
amulet.

 Strange, it seemed to warm up in his hands.

 Ryouga screamed as the magic erupted.
--EYECATCH#1---------
 Ranma zooms onto the screen. A storefront
behind him has the "Ranma 1/3" logo. Freeze
frame.
caption: "Ranma Saotome, werecheetah, zoomius
supersonicus."
 Unfreeze frame. Ranma zooms off the screen
with a "starship entering warp" effect.
 Ryouga runs onto the screen. Freeze frame.
caption: "Ryouga Hibiki, werewolf, losticus
kluulus."
 Unfreeze frame. Ryouga runs off the screen,
angrily waving a fist at Ranma.
 Large crowd of women run onto screen. Freeze
frame.
caption: "Ranma hunters. Mostly human.
Romanticus Mobicus."
 Unfreeze frame. Crowd runs off. Logo on
store falls over, revealing the "Source Of
Pride" title.
-----1992-----------
 "This is Hekiru Yamamoto." The reporter
spoke into the phone with a sense of urgency.
"I've found the father. Get this, the kid's
still alive."

 "You sure about that? How's the kid
survived?"

 "Well, at least the 'Demon Dad' thinks so. I
found him here at this village in the
foothills of the Bayankala Mountain range in
Qinghai Province. Apparently he abandoned the
kid when a bunch of locals got after him."
Hekiru glanced about herself surreptiously.
"I don't know how the kid's alive, but
apparently he is. The locals confirmed this.
Apparently there's some magical healing that
took place, I thought it was an urban legend
but there's people who actually have met him.
Look, this guy's been trying to get in and
sneak away his son again but apparently he
hasn't been able to get in that close. He's
going to try again tomorrow."

 "And you'll help." It wasn't a question.

 "A fellow Japanese, a photographer trying to
get a few pictures of a Lost Society within
China that somehow managed to maintain their
own identity during the Communists attempts
to suppress such? Oh yes, there's apparently
one of those here too. We'll rescue the
little boy, then I'll contact you as soon as
I can. He comes back to Japan with his child,
and we're ready with an exclusive of the
police taking the 'Demon Dad' into custody."

 "Sounds good." The editor's voice carried
the smile and gleam in his eyes. "Did you
call your answering machine and give another
report?"

 "Yeah, should be all ready to be
transcribed. I've got the photos going by
courier to Hong Kong, from there an overnight
to you. Save a copy for me."

 "Always, Yamamoto-san, always."
--------------------
 "She said no, Mousse. Leave my sister
alone."

 "Shampoo *will* be my bride. You? You're a
freak and an outsider, less than a real man.
You CERTAINLY aren't her brother. Why should
I listen to *you*!"

 Sixteen year old Ranma tried not to show how
much the accusations hurt. Shampoo was even
more like a sister than Ukyou. Shampoo had
been a friend and rough-and-tumble playmate
for several years now. Many in the village
accepted him, even though he wasn't born
here. Shampoo, Cologne, Azure, Tiger, Sugar,
Lilac, Razor, and a few others. Many in the
village did NOT accept him and continued to
make their displeasure quite clear.

 "Because Shampoo talks to me and I LISTEN!
That's one of the things she has against you.
You DON'T listen."

 "You don't understand Shampoo OR our ways
like I do, monster." Jealousy turned Mousse's
features harsh. This unworthy boy spent so
much time with Shampoo, having her friendship
and sleeping in the same house. It was *so*
unfair! "And what are you going to do about
it if I don't leave Shampoo alone?"

 "I'm telling you NICELY, idiot! Stop bugging
my sister."

 "Fist Of The White Swan!" Mousse replied,
using one of his newest manuevers.

 Ranma grunted and slid back a few feet from
the blow. "Not bad, Mousse, but it takes more
than one punch to finish me."

 "There's an old line of Chinese Amazon
wisdom that applies, I think. 'Obstacles are
for killing.' Yes, that does seem
appropriate." Mousse produced a spear that
glinted silver in the light. "Now I end your
miserable excuse for a life and at the same
time reclaim Shampoo."

 "She was never yours to begin with," growled
Ranma in reply. "Last chance."

 "DIE RANMA!"

 "No." A lithe form landed in between Mousse
and Ranma. "You will not do this, Mousse. If
you are going to challenge Ranma, do it
within the Law."

 "You defend him, Azure? He's an outsider."
Mousse stopped but readied a few throwing
knives within the folds of his robe.

 "He is NOT an outsider. He has been adopted
into the tribe as Shampoo's brother. You may
NOT attack him as you would an outsider."
Azure privately added that he was too cute to
be lost through Mousse's refusal to see that
Ranma only thought of Shampoo as his sister.

 A voice spoke from behind Mousse. "You throw
those knives, Mousse, and *I* will challenge
you. What do you think your odds would be
then?"

 Mousse stopped. Azure he could probably
defeat. Sugar was another thing entirely. And
if Sugar was here, Spice was likely nearby.
Someone had once said that Shampoo was among
the best of the best. Sugar, Spice, Cinnamon,
Kohi, and the giantess Dowel were also part
of an elite fighting group within the
Nichieju. Azure was the well-meaning but
often fumblefingered buddy. For Mousse to go
up against Sugar was the mouse trying to kill
the serpent, difficult but not impossible.
For Mousse to go up against Sugar AND Spice -
he didn't think anyone would put odds on him.

 "Then I declare a formal challenge," Mousse
said after a moment. "Me versus Ranma to
determine if he is allowed to be Shampoo's
brother."

 "The challenge rings are booked solid for a
good month," Azure put in quickly.

 "It doesn't matter," came yet another voice.
Shampoo had heard, and Shampoo wasn't
pleased. "I accept Ranma as my brother.
Whether you win or lose against him is beside
the point."

 Mousse frowned but bulled ahead. "I know of
a challenge ground that we can use. This
*will* be settled and I will send this weak
cripple out of the village."

 "Where?" Azure was sure she wouldn't like
the answer. She had plans for the Healer that
she was sure Shampoo would approve of.

 Knowing that his father had tried to drown
him, Mousse hoped that water would yet prove
to be Ranma's undoing. If not, he had enough
weapons tipped with silver to do the job.
"Jusenkyo."
---------------

 "Dad!" Nabiki glanced up from the paper.
"There's another Demon Dad article in the
paper."

 "Aaaaaa!" Soun cried just from the shame.
Hadn't Genma risen above the Master's moral
level at all? Who would learn Anything Goes
martial arts with this kind of infamy
attached to the school?

 Akane, the sole student of his dojo (and
even then she was being trained by Mrs
Saotome), looked across the table with a
blink. "What's going on this time?"

 "She followed the trail of petty thefts to a
village in China, doesn't say where. Says the
Demon Dad has apparently been... oh dear. I
wonder if Mrs Saotome has seen this?"

 Soun twitched slightly. He didn't want to
ask. He didn't want to know. Ignorance was
bliss, if only in comparison to knowing.

 "What he do now?" Akane wanted the lurid
details.

 "Not only has Ranma been engaged to twelve
other girls, Mister Saotome has been doing
'Anything Goes' in the moral sense as well as
the Art sense. Theft, sleeping around,
whatever will get him sleeping indoors and
keep him near where he can reclaim his son."

 "Ranma's alive?!" Kasumi came out of the
kitchen, a smile lighting her face. They had
come to know *something* of this Ranma of
late. The pictures relayed from this Masaki
boy to Ranma's mother had shown a completely
different side to their iinazuke than the
little boy largely concealed by tubes and
monitoring equipment. "I'll call Saotome-san
and tell her to check the paper."

 Soun twitched again, feebly.
------------------------
 "Tenchi! Tenchi!" Ukyou ran into the cave,
knowing that Tenchi tended to hang around it.
"Morisato-san just called. There's another
'Demon Dad' article in the paper."

 An unseen spirit listened with interest to
the two. SHE remembered the brash little boy
who had been here a few years ago too. She
wanted out of this damn cave more than ever.

 "Does it say?"

 "Not confirmed, but they think Ranchan's
alive!"

 Tenchi blinked at that, wondering how.

 "So..."

 "So I'M going."

 "Does the article say where he is?"

 "Nope, but Morisato's got a lead on where
Ranchan's mother lives and I gotta bullet
train pass to Tokyo. You know how long I've
been planning." Ukyou had the determined
gleam in her eyes that spoke of her vengeance
upon one Genma Saotome. Though she had to
leave enough of him that his wife could deal
with him later.

 "Does Grandpa know?"

 "Not yet. With any luck, I can be in Azabu
Juuban by the time he finds out." She had her
pack, her bo staff, and her spatulas ready.
"Morisato-san wants you to give him a call
back when you read the article."

 Tenchi nodded, no point in fighting Ukyou
when she got THAT look in her eyes. "I'll
call the others and let 'em know."
----------------
 Cologne's eyes were slits. She was angry.
No, angry didn't quite do it.

 Three junior warriors took one look at the
Matriarch's expression and nearly fled. One
sergeant was actually hoping they would
because then she could get out of the area
while chasing them.

 Lilac raised an eyebrow at her colleague's
ruddy aura, but merely frowned herself.

 THAT was enough to cause several rather
tough older Amazons to remember duties
elsewhere. Cologne angry was unusual and
dangerous. For Lilac to show any signs of
anger herself, why - the horn of Apocalypse
must have sounded and the demonic hordes
already on the way.

 "They...went...where?" Cologne's voice was
low but carried well.

 "You *let* them?" Lilac's voice was the
raspy whisper it always was. Nevertheless, to
many present it carried more import than
Cologne's anger. It was simply so unheard of
for the Elder Healer to show such obvious
signs of displeasure.

 Azure winced. "Elders, I..."

 Lilac's eyes unclenched a little. A touch of
her usual humor began to filter into her
voice. "No, *you* tried to stop them, didn't
you?"

 Azure stepped a little back, not sure how
much Lilac knew.

 "Oh yes, child, I know." Lilac made a
dismissive wave. "Watching from the shadows
as you have, cultivating a friendship with
Shampoo despite that Shampoo had always
viewed you as merely a weak warrior and
therefore not worthy of associating with
her."

 "What?" Cologne's gaze fell upon the
warrior, who flinched under it.

 "She's got the hots for my apprentice."
Lilac dismissed the muted whispering from two
of the other Elders who felt that a proper
Amazon shouldn't allow the weakness of
feelings for a male to undermine their
warrior hearts. Lilac was a bit more earthy
than some of the others and didn't disapprove
of the concept. Okay, she wanted to see
Amazon kids in Ranma's future. "So, of
course, she let us know as soon as she could
out of concern for Ranma."

 "Let them fight," councilled Kuraioh, Elder
of Dark Magics, incidently Mousse's
grandmother. "Mousse will slay the beast and
our village need not suffer this outsider any
longer."

 "Let them fight," seconded Wind, Elder of
Artisans. "The Amazons must be strong to
survive. He is too strange, too different."

 Lotion, Elder of the Lore Masters, kept her
own council.

 Cologne began to argue with the two
dissenters, bringing two more Elders into the
argument as she did, noting that Lilac and
Azure had vanished. A thought caused her to
stop the whole thing as unproductive.

 "You can argue this however you want.
Shampoo is my great-granddaughter, you
idiots, and SHE is with them! Family takes
precedence." With that, Cologne took her own
leave from the Audience Hall.
------------------------------
 "Coward! Come and face me!" Mousse leapt to
the top of one of the poles, smirking down at
the little monster. This would be over
swiftly. To an obstacle to his love of
Shampoo, there could be only one fate!

 "Mousse, you idiot!" Sugar almost drew her
sword. This place didn't feel at all right.
"You could have just waited a month or two
and had the challenge match on the log.
Instead you get us all out here on a cold
night."

 "Afternoon," corrected Spice.

 "Well, it's a cold breeze, at least." Sugar
glared at Spice as if wanting to hear any
further contradiction.

 Ranma leapt to the top of his own pole,
looking a little uncertain about this whole
thing. For one thing, there was something
really familiar about that fat guy in the
trenchcoat and Hawaiian shirt.

 Hekiru and Genma, two Japanese tourists,
edged a little closer to the drama.

 Shampoo was as tactful as ever and her
comments indicated her complete disinterest
in the fight. "Go, Ranma! Whip the Mousse!
Rip his lungs out! Stamp him into the muck!
Pop his spleen! Eviscerate, crush, kill,
maim, destroy!"

 Sugar began to look a little pale as Shampoo
went into great detail about what Ranma
should do to Mousse, using blunt instruments
and definitely no anesthetic. "Please,
Shampoo, I haven't eaten supper yet."

 "I will kill you, Ranma, then Shampoo will
be mine." Mousse drew twin curved blades from
within his robes.

 "She is my sister, Mousse. My
bloodoath-sister if not by anything else. She
doesn't want anything to do with you." Ranma
grinned, showing enlarged canines. His curse
was suppressed by the amulet, but it still
showed a bit in the gold of his hair and the
toothy grin.

 "DIE!" Mousse launched himself.

 Instead of leaping forward, Ranma waited
where he was. Patience was something all
veteran warriors and healers possessed.

 Throwing knives tipped with silver shot out.
Mousse was rather shocked when Ranma pulled a
metal edged warfan out of his sleeves and
blocked them.

 "That's...Hidden Weapon Style," Mousse said
upon landing on another pole. "How dare you
use my own style against me?!" It had been
bad enough the last time they had fought.

 "I'm a Healer, Mousse. That doesn't mean I'm
defenseless." Maybe when he had first come to
the village, but he had learned a LOT before
he had worn the amulet. Now that he had...

 "I will not tolerate this insult!" Mousse
launched himself again, once again producing
the pair of swords and moving closer to his
opponent.

 Shampoo turned to Sugar and produced her
bonbori, then a spear, then a nine-ring
broadsword. Finally she produced from her
right sleeve a tray with several sandwiches.
"Handy technique, isn't it? Ranma's such a
good brother to share so much with his dear
sister, don't you think?"

 "No rice?" Spice blinked at the sight but
wondered why foreign food.

 "Too difficult to keep it from spilling.
Ranma introduced me to peanut butter
sandwiches a few years ago, and they keep
really well." Shampoo offered the odd food to
her two friends as they watched the battle.
"I send him out to pick me up some stuff you
can't get around here. He heads over to
Cloudgate Pass."

 "That's an eight hour hike," noted Spice.

 "Ranma does it in fifteen minutes," Shampoo
said, taking a large wineskin out of her left
sleeve. "He's gotten pretty good at running."

 Sugar smiled betwen bites. "Almost makes me
wish that I had a brother." HER brother, she
silently added, not thinking for a moment
about a relationship between siblings.

 "Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire," said
Ranma in response to Mousse's attack. His
fists lashed out with a cracking noise that
had nothing to do with the force of impact,
but rather the speed of sound being exceeded.
Mousse made a short arc and landed in one of
the pools below.

 "That reminds me, Shampoo," one sixteen year
old said to another. "Is Ranma handfasted
yet? Engaged? Seeing someone?"

 "No. Why do you ask, Sugar?" Shampoo looked
slyly at the swordswoman, well knowing the
answer.

 "It just occurred to me that since his
adoption into the tribe is contested, that
maybe a less controversial way to bring an
outsider into the tribe might soothe a few of
those dissenters."

 "It's possible," agreed Shampoo. "I think
Azure's interested."

 "Azure tends to walk into walls, ESPECIALLY
when your brother's around." Sugar smirked
slightly. "No, I think a REAL warrior is what
your brother needs."

 "This is true. But it is also true what
Mousse says about that." Shampoo smirked and
started off to go congratulate her brother on
his victory. "He's not *really* related to
me, is he?"

 Sugar came to a complete stop and stared at
Shampoo for a moment before deciding the
formerly aloof Champion was kidding. Sugar
tried to remember the always serious warrior
who had been dedicated to being Champion and
friendless (RinRin and RanRan being more like
groupies) just a few years ago. "That Ranma
really is amazing to get Shampoo to open up
like that," Sugar mused with a smile. "Life
is just full of surprises."

 At that moment a hawk crawled out of the
spring that Mousse had vanished into and
chee'ed angrily at the sight of Shampoo
supporting the wheezing Ranma. Going at
supersonic speeds exhausted him rather
quickly.

 One of the two tourists began to loudly bang
on the door to the Guide's hut, causing
attention to be directed there by the young
Amazons present. Which was when the larger of
the two tourists made his move.

 Flinging his diguise aside at the same time
he charged forward, Genma attacked. He
startled Shampoo enough to fling her aside
and sent a wooden cudgel into his son's face.
He ran THROUGH one of the pools, drenching
himself as he headed across the Valley.

 Sugar was about to give chase when she
noticed Lilac, Cologne, Azure, and a half
dozen other Amazons charging along.

 "That's Ranma's father," yelled Azure,
recognizing him from a day when a young boy
had nearly been drowned in the town's water
supply.

 Hekiru continued to sneak off, mumbling a
little something about "so-called brilliant
plans" hatched by "overlarge fools" and how
much she looked forward to seeing him taken
into police custody. At least she'd be able
to ditch the disguise and come back.

 Ranma got over being startled and shifted.
His father, feeling the weight in his arms
increase, looked down.

 Genma SCREAMED in sheer mortal terror.
---------------
 Keiichi Morisato grumbled about being left
alone to answer the phone, but this was part
and parcel of being low man on dorm room
totem pole. His eyes widened as he saw the
article. He had to call  and tell Tenchi
about this!

 He dialed the number quickly. "Hello,
Tenchi?!"

 "This is the Goddess Helpline. I'll be there
immediately for a consultation." Belldandy
smiled. She had been planning this for years.
She'd already made HER wish, which would
modify HIS wish.

 And she hadn't even had to make him give up
smoking in *this* timeline.
---------------
 "Another 'Demon Dad' article!" Nabiki said
this fairly loud, rewarded with one long moan
of anguish from her father and two requests
for further information from her sisters.

 "It's got pictures this time, too." Nabiki
looked over the photos with a smirk.
"According to this, the reporter got quite a
welcome when she announced she was chasing
after the Demon Dad to bring him to justice.
This Ranma is in an Amazon village hidden in
the Bayankala mountain range."

 "Oh, she actually gives her location away
this time?" Akane sat down with a cup of tea
and looked over Nabiki's shoulder at the
photographs. "Hmmm. Martial artist female
warriors? Sounds like it could be fun."

 Nabiki shrugged at her sister's idea of fun.
"Anyway, dig this. This is a photograph
Yamamoto-san took in the village showing
Ranma and his 'Amazon sister' Shampoo."

 "Oh, let me see," Kasumi said brightly. "Oh
my, he looks a lot better now that he's off
life-support."

 "Kinda scarred up though." Nabiki frowned
slightly. He'd never be an idol, that was for
sure. Though those three parallel scars on
his cheek gave him a certain air of
character.

 "His sister's named for a hair care
product?" Akane snorted.

 "Apparently the Demon Dad abandoned him
there a few years ago so he could be healed,
they adopted him into their tribe and he is a
'promising specialist in shiatsu and Chinese
herbal medicine' according to one of their
Elders." Nabiki paused as she considered
marketability and possible financial
developments.

 "What's that say about a curse?" Akane
pointed to a line of text.

 "Apparently Ranma decided being whole was
worth getting a curse. He's a
...werecheetah?"

 "Yeah right," Akane started waving it off.
"Waitaminnute, what if it's serious?"

 "A real magic curse?" Nabiki smirked. "Come
on, it's just something she added to make the
story more interesting." Nabiki's smirk died
as she saw the picture on the next page. They
hadn't wasted any money on this. It was a
color shot of Ranma in his wereform. Gee, was
it warm in here all of a sudden?

 "If it were true, this would be another
thing to hold Mister Saotome accountable
for." Kasumi sounded faintly disapproving but
eyed the photo of the young boy and his
sister. She hadn't seen the odd picture on
the next page yet, nor the open stare that
Nabiki was giving it.

 "I'll call Mrs Saotome and make sure she
sees this." Nabiki handed the article off to
Akane. Besides she had to wipe drool off her
chin.

 She was rather surprised to hear Mrs Saotome
had a guest. She was even more surprised to
hear plane tickets being discussed.

 Kasumi and Akane got to the next page and
didn't blink for quite some time after that.

 "Oh my," said Akane with feeling.

 Kasumi merely nodded.
--------------------------
 "Aw, c'mon, Grandpa. Curses?"

 "Lycanthropes? Yes, they are real, though
rarer than the movies would make you think.
There's also ghosts and shinnentai and a
number of other things the modern world
scoffs at."

 "Then... it's real?" Tenchi couldn't believe
it. Then, did this mean that his old friend
was now a cat? How... bizarre. Ukyou would
*really* be upset.

 "Don't go *there*, Tenchi." Tilting his head
so that the light caught his glasses just
*so*, Yosho regarded his grandson. "Instead,
why don't we go visit an Amazon village..."

 Tenchi waited until his grandfather had left
before lifting up the set of keys he'd
filched. He'd have to hurry, but at last he
could find out what was in that cave!
---------------------------
 "A wish?" Keichi blinked at the girl
floating in midair. "For anything? Anything
at all? I could be rich or be a race car
driver or even... "

 "Yes," said Belldandy with a smile that
warmed the room, seeing the unspoken desire.
Keiichi had seen the love and devotion that
Ukyou had for her Ranma long ago, and like
the others had also sworn that Genma would
face justice for his crime. "But don't waste
a wish on vengeance, Genma Saotome will face
the repercussions of his actions."

 "I could..." Keichi's eyes found the article
lying on the floor. Ranma smiling with his
Amazon sister. "I know. I never meet a nice
girl like Ukyou around my own age. None of
the girls my age are interested in me 'cause
I'm so short."

 "That isn't so important," answered
Belldandy with complete sincerity. "It's not
the size of the body that's important, it's
the size of the heart."

 Keichi looked at this person, not as a
goddess, not as someone who came floating up
out of mirrors. Kind, nice, beautiful, the
kind of girl he never met. He had no idea
where the impulse came from. "I just wish I
had a girl like you, who was as devoted to me
as Ukyou was to her Ranma."

 Belldandy was careful not to smile as she
granted the wish.
---------------------------
 Nodoka led the way. This cargo plane wasn't
exactly first class, but who else could get
them into a remote region of China quickly
and without questions asked?

 "<Y'all strap in. We're going around most of
China to avoid the air restrictions, then go
in low over the mountains and into that
Bayankala area.>" Ace smiled at the mostly
young group and shrugged. He wished 'em luck,
that 'Demon Dad' series was being translated
into English and had caused quite a stir
abroad.

 Genma had done something the Japanese people
really didn't like. He'd called attention to
them, and made them all look bad by
association. Embarrassing their nation was
not something a Japanese took lightly. Losing
business and money due to being linked to the
Demon Dad had caused even mild-mannered
assembly line workers to curse the name of
Genma Saotome.

 "He's American?" Akane wanted a chance to
practice her English.

 "Ace was made known to me by a friend. He is
apparently one of the best pilots one can get
to run special freight deliveries who
operates mainly within the law." Nodoka
didn't have a hair out of place.

 "<I got your passports and such here, and
the special Entry permits from a guy I know
in Shanghai. I gotta drop you off, then I
gotta make a stop in Tibet and unload some
radio parts. Cause of the air restrictions,
you'll have to make your way back to
civilization on your own.>"

 "<Not a problem,>" Nodoka assured the young
man.

 "Yo," said a girl wearing hiking clothes and
looking over the others. "Name's Ukyou
Kuonji. Ranma's mom tells me one of you
three's engaged to Ranchan. I think we ought
to have a little chat during this trip."

 "Oh my."
------------------------
 "So, do you have it?"

 "Found it. It's legit," Ami didn't look up
from her computer, continuing to type at high
speeds. "Your old sempai is in Qinghai
province, Bayankala mountain range, about
twenty five klicks from a village called
Cloudgate Pass."

 "Can we get there?" Makoto Kino frowned and
looked to the west as if she could pierce the
distance and walls between here and there by
simple act of will.

 "It would require a Sailor Teleport." Ami
frowned slightly, remembering the large man
who had pounded four children years ago. Even
if she hadn't been one of those pummelled, it
was clearly engraved in memory.

 "Too dangerous. It's not like this Genma is
from the Dark Kingdom, we can't risk it for
personal business." Luna met the resulting
glare from Makoto without a flinch. "You know
I'm right."

 "On the other hand, if and when he returns
to Japan," Minako clenched a fist. "He'll be
taking a trip down Yenzu river..."

 "That's 'Senzu river', Minako." Artemis
sighed.
-------------------------
 Genma snuck back. Those damn Amazons had
done something to his son. Something
horrible. Maybe that hadn't even been his son
after all. After all, it had changed shape.

 Well, he'd find Ranma and get him back. He
knew what to do about werewolves. Though that
hadn't really looked like a wolf. More like
some kind of leopard.

 A thought stopped Genma in mid-sneak. Maybe
this was the true power of the catfist?
-------------------------
 "Yeah, uhm, okay." Keichi put the phone back
on its cradle. "Tenchi and his grandpa are
going to that Amazon village. Ukyou's already
going there. The only one home is their
father..."

 "Yes?" Belldandy sat back and blinked.

 "Yeah, I heard about that," Megumi stretched
out. "Hey, think that when Ukyou and Ranma
get back together they can show me some
moves?"

 "Yeah right," Keichi shook his head. One
meeting with Ukyou Kuonji and Tenchi Masaki,
and Megumi had added martial arts to her
resume. Not that she was any good at it, she
just had gotten enthusiastic about watching
it. "Considering how much they were into that
stuff, all you'd have to do is drop the
hint."

 "I just wish *we* could go to that village,"
Megumi said with a sigh. "Just imagine what
it'd be like to be there when they're
reunited."

 "Hmmm," hmmmed Keichi, thinking of how
romantic that could be and if Belldandy were
with him...

 "Hmmm," hmmmed Belldandy, thinking of how
romantic that would be. And maybe if Keichi
were with her...

 "Ah-HA!" Urd chuckled as she watched from a
distance. Perfect.
--------------------------
 Hekiru was at once both in and out of her
element.

 In her element because this was HER story.
She had spent many years tracking this all
down and at last had found the boy she'd
given up as dead long ago.

 Out of her element because she was used to
working alone. Out of her element because
magic and the supernatural had taken her
normal little story and thrown it into a
reporter's No Man's Land. Even with the
pictures, people were having trouble with
this.

 The lower class and the upper class ran into
enough weirdness that they didn't have much
trouble with it. The middle class, locked
into their grey suburban drudgery, wondered
what was going on.

 Hekiru looked at the boy that kept turning
into a hawk, at the  healed Japanese boy, and
wondered what had happened to her nice
orderly world.

 Hekiru also looked at the television crew,
their equipment and monitors, and wondered if
this was still *her* story. Yes, the
newspaper she worked for was owned by a media
group, and this television station was
therefore an affiliate. Still, it was *her*
baby.

 Little did she know how much things were
going to go completely insane.
---------------------------
 "Tenchi?!" Ukyou blinked at the sight on the
trail. "Mister Masaki? Uh-oh."

 "Young lady, you *could* have told me."
Tenchi's grandfather pushed his glasses
firmly onto the bridge of his nose. "Consider
yourself grounded as soon as we get back."

 Tenchi merely perspired and prayed that the
demon he'd awoken from that cave STAYED in
that cave.

 Ryoko, of course, was hiding nearby. She'd
surprise Tenchi later.

 "How nice," Akane said with a smirk. If
Ukyou was grounded, then that meant her
sisters had a clear shot at this Ranma guy.
Mrs Saotome had never made a preference
clear, and both Nabiki and Kasumi were
interested in meeting this Ranma fellow. All
SHE had to do was keep some of the riffraff
away and this engagement stuff would just
pass Akane by.

 "Hmmm," Nabiki hmmmed. If Kasumi got Ranma,
this new guy looked kinda cute AND didn't
have major injuries (or curses). At least as
far as she could tell.

 "Oh dear." Kasumi unfurled her little
parasol and looked around at all the people
converging on the air strip. She could hardly
wait to do a medical exam on Ranma. There was
no telling what damages the lack of
medications might have done to him over the
years.
-----------------------------
 Megumi blinked as her brother was being
drawn INTO the television screen and grabbed
for him.

 A moment later Belldandy re-entered the
empty room with a tray of snacks, noted that
a transport spell had been used, and began
tracking her Keichi down.
-----------------------------
 Megumi fixed her brother with a glare,
deciding to ignore the tanned girl with the
platinum hair, the Amazon village, the
startled camera crew, and the line of
arriving burros.

 "Okay, bro, you've got thirty seconds to
explain what the hell is going on around
here!"

 "Uhm, well," Keichi stammered.

 "Hmmmm. Maybe you can help me out here,"
purred Urd. "After all, I got you here where
you wanted to be, so you can pay me back."

 "I didn't ask for you to pull me through a
TV SET!"

 A chromed surface chose that moment to erupt
in light. "Keichi! Are you allright? ...Urd?!
I should have known!" Belldandy scowled.

 "Well, Keichi, I'm waiting?"
-----------------------------
 Cologne's chopsticks broke.

 Lilac glanced at that, then noted aloud that
her teacup had just cracked.

 With a clatter, one of the wall hangings
became acquainted with the ground.

 A crow, for no apparent reason, fell dead at
the entry to the Audience Hall.

 Cologne's eyes went to slits. "This means
something."

 "I think she's got something," Lotion
agreed.

 "This could be interesting," chorused Lilac.
------------------------------
 "Goddesses?" Megumi said, feeling her jaw
wanting to hit the ground. She'd abruptly
been pulled aside by the bronze-skinned girl
who'd figured that since this girl was
Keichi's sister and she knew anyway...

 "That's right, I'm Belldandy's big sister
Urd. Now, if you can help me out by getting
those two together..."

 "My brother's girlfriend is some kinda
goddess?"

 "Yes, one of the three Norns. Urd,
Belldandy, Skuld. Now back to the problem at
hand."

 "A goddess?! Keichi? Keichi couldn't get a
date to save his life and he's living with a
goddess?"

 "Yes, yes, yes. Keichi and my sister the
goddess. Norn of the Present, Belldandy.
Actually they're in sort of the same boat
since Sis hasn't gone out terribly often
either." Urd noticed that Megumi Morisato
hadn't blinked in several minutes.

 "Keichi and a goddess..." Megumi's mind
started to process this bizarre turn of
events and work its way past the blockage.
"Shacking up." Scandalous enough if it was a
foreign exchange student, but dear kami- a
megami?!

 "That's the problem you see. The past is my
specialty, and the future is Skuld's, but
with all this chaos it's anyone's guess. Your
brother is so indecisive and hesitant, I
can't see the two getting together in the
near future."

 "Well, they've only known each other a day,"
Megumi finally started fitting things
together. "That's right, they'd just gotten
thrown out of the dorm yesterday. Wow, that
means that I interrupted my brother's first
attempt to kiss a goddess. Wow!"

 "Yes, I KNOW!" Urd took a deep breath and
let some of her frustration out that way.
"Anyway, to get them together."

 "You WANT to get them..." Megumi blushed.
HER brother, and a goddess?!

 "YES! Like I said, the past is my specialty
and when I heard about this Ranma fellow I
got curious about his past. When I explored
HIS past I ran across this Keichi fellow, so
I followed HIS past. And found...my sister."

 "Your sister, in Keichi's past?" Megumi
began to smile, beginning to go into shock.

 "Yes. It turns out the two of them met prior
to Keichi meeting this Ranma and a boy named
Tenchi Masaki, a girl named Ukyou Kuonji, and
a girl named Makoto Kino. ALL of whom have
VERY interesting pasts. Bell has been
watching Keichi from Heaven for years now.
Probably planning for Keichi's wish. So
Belldandy made a wish to modify Keichi's wish
so that it would come out as a wish for HER."

 Megumi blinked finally. "So they're fated
lovers, cruelly seperated by destiny, but
she's never forgotten him, and now the lovers
have been at last reunited but my brother's
clueless about the whole thing. It figures."

 "That's..." Urd blinked this time.
"Actually, that's pretty accurate."

 "Hey, I read shojo manga all the time. So,
it's forbidden for gods and mortals to
cohabitate or something?"

 "Uhm, not forbidden. It's just really
frowned on. A lot of the male gods have quick
flings and the like. This isn't a quickie
though, I've seen that much."

 "Right!" Megumi clenched a fist and fire
glinted in her eye. "An ancient love between
a goddess and a mortal, even if my brother is
a bit of a weenie, seperated by cruel fate
and given the chance to bloom because your
sister had the guts to cross that barrier of
forbidden love!"

 Urd shook her head. "No, that's not quite
it."

 "Close enough."

 Urd had to agree with that.
-------------------------
 Ranma stopped and stared. There, riding a
burro, parasol perched jauntily over one
shoulder, was Nice Lady.

 "<There's an awful lot of strangers in the
village today.>" Shampoo noted. "<You suppose
they're all here for the Tournament?>"

 "<Shampoo, do you see that one with the odd
umbrella? That's the Nice Lady, except she
doesn't have the marks on the face.>"

 Shampoo blinked and peered at the crowd.
"<That's her? Are you sure?>"

 "<Yeah. I mean she's even got the hair done
the same way. And that one over there is...>
UCCHAN?! TENCHI?!"

 Shampoo braced herself against the wind
caused by Ranma's quick departure.
--------------------------
 Ukyou and Tenchi both looked up at hearing
their names. They weren't quite ready for
this.

 Running at speeds you normally needed a
bullet train for, Ranma grabbed up his Ucchan
and circled the burro train three times
before coming to a halt.

 "R-R-RAnma?!" Ukyou blinked. Blonde? The
scars she could see, but what was with the
fur?

 Ukyou and the others all took a moment to
study Ranma's hybrid form. Wearing a set of
Chinese clothes that had flaring sleeves and
was tight almost everywhere else, the figure
would likely have been unrecognizable without
the photo. The clothing looked to be of
cotton or something similar, and was a blue
only a shade darker than his eyes. Blonde
fur, spotted with black or streaked with
white, very fine, gave him almost the look of
some golden statue come to life. His ears
were pointed and very feline-expressive,
constantly twitching. His mane was tied back
in a ponytail that reached his mid-back,
spotted with dark areas, and his face had two
streaks similar to a cheetah's facial
markings. There was also a darker area of
three slashmarks where the tissues underneath
remained scarred.

 He was taut and leanly muscular, graceful in
his movements, and stood nearly
6'2" -towering over most of those present.
His tail was of the same coloration as his
mane. Slight fangs showed as he grinned.
There was an aura of confidence, good-natured
friendliness, and intelligence showing in
those deep blue eyes.

 Nabiki looked at the golden figure before
her and licked her lips. She'd always been
fond of gold, and those pants were *just*
tight enough! She wondered if she would be
too forward if she glomped him or should she
just propose now and get the preliminaries
over with?

 Kasumi looked at the abused boy and wondered
if she should give him a full exam now? She
also remembered that this was a healer, as
well as her iinazuke. She'd have to make sure
she took good care of him, after all he'd
been through. At least, this was what Kasumi
was thinking. Her eyes, on the other hand,
kept roaming over the pleasantly built male
body and wondered if she could get the
wedding scheduled soon.

 Akane half turned away from this boy and
tried not to stare out of the corner of her
eye. Not that she was interested, mind you.
As she'd loudly and frequently explain, she
was *not* interested in a fiance/boyfriend or
anything of the kind. Nope! Akane licked her
lips as they suddenly seemed to have gotten
dry.

 Ukyou took inventory and was satisfied. He
may look awfully feline, but this was *her*
Ranchan! And he'd gotten so tall and buff!
And was now a shiatsu and herbal medicine
expert! She could fix okonomiyaki right
outside his clinic! Maybe he could even get
together with her and combine her skills with
okonomiyaki and his herbal medicine to create
herbal medicine okonomiyaki! But right now
the important thing was to get acquainted
with her Ranchan again.

 Nodoka noted the tight pants, the way the
girls looked at him, and the way Nabiki was
drooling. Yup, her son had turned out manly.

 "<Brother? Do you want to introduce me to
your friends?>" Shampoo panted between every
word having done her best to match speeds
with her brother.

 "<Oh, sorry, Shampoo. I've told you about
Ucchan and Tenchi. That's Tenchi's
grandfather, Katsuhiko.> Ucchan, Tenchi,
Grandfather, this is my sister Shampoo."

 "Ranma? You've got fur? Then it's true?"
Tenchi looked over his old friend, now taller
and much more muscular than himself.

 "What's true?" Ranma blinked blue eyes at
them all.

 "You're a werecheetah?"

 "Yeah."

 "Hi, I'm Nabiki." A girl with short hair and
glazed-over eyes came forward and shook
Ranma's hand. "I'm your fiancee."

 "EXCUSE ME!?" Shampoo, Kasumi, Ukyou, Akane
and Azure (appearing out of nowhere)
exclaimed.

 Ranma just blinked and considered fainting.
-----------------------
 "So I'm engaged to marry one of your
daughters by an ancient arrangement between
families. PLUS I'm engaged to marry Ukyou?"
Ranma twitched a little.

 "Shampoo also promise Azure, Sugar, Kohi,
Ran Ran and Rin Rin that they have chance at
you." Shampoo shook her head at this
insanity. "Plus remember that Shampoo not
really sister and great-grandmama would
really like bring you into family for real."

 Ranma nodded. THAT had been an idea that had
developed after he'd regenerated the arm and
leg. Lilac, his mentor in the Healing Arts,
just wanted to see him settle down with a
large number of kids. She had reminded him on
more than one occasion that he could
potentially take more than one wife.

 Ranma glanced over at his mother, still
trying to get used to the idea that he had
one.

 "According to the papers, you've also got a
dozen other fiancees that your Dad arranged."

 Tenchi nudged his blood brother. "Better you
than me."

 Tenchi's grandfather heard that and smirked
at some private joke.

 "But..." Ranma's eyes began to glaze over
again.

 "Son, don't worry about it." His mother,
beaming proudly at the boy, checked some
papers in her hand. "It will all work out."

 "Hmmmph," hmmphed Akane. All boys were
perverts anyway. Not that she wanted him.
Nope. She hadn't paid any attention to that
taut waist, well defined pectorals and butt.
Not her! She had studiously avoided noticing
that the scars on his face seemed to further
define it rather than detract from it. She
*especially* did not notice how cute and sexy
his hybrid form was with the feline exotic
looks. She wasn't a pervert, after all. Nope.
Not interested at all in how those tight
pants looked on him. Not evenly vaguely
interested in how soft and silken his fur and
mane looked, or wondered what it would feel
like to run her fingers through it. Gee, it
was *awfully* hot and steamy in this hut...

 "And you said, you were..." Nabiki looked
over at Tenchi.

 "We're the Masaki Brothers," said Tenchi and
Ranma in a well practiced unison.

 "And I'm the Masaki Sister, I'm the Cute
One." Ukyou chimed in a half beat later.
------------------
 "Brit? Have you seen this?" Gina looked up
at where her adoptive sister was writing a
letter to her new boyfriend Stripe.

 "The Tokyo Werewolf make another
appearance?"

 "No, this article about the 'Demon Dad' that
says the boy's a werecheetah."

 <ZOOOOOM! GRAB!>

 "I'm not the last?" Brittany gasped at the
implications. "Maybe this is some lost
Chinese tribe of werecheetahs?"

 "Well, it says here that..."

 <ZOOOOM!> Brittany Diggers, werecheetah, was
proving that she could leap to conclusions
and run with a concept as well as anyone
else.

 Brianna smirked. A werecheetah, huh? She'd
have to check him out.
-----------------------
 "So, that's my proposal." Nodoka said her
piece and let the argument rage on. She used
the opportunity to watch her son and the
girls around him.

 Her son seemed confused by all the
attention. No, that wasn't confusion. That
was stunned shock. Apparently he hadn't
realized that several of the Amazons had been
petitioning his "sister" to be allowed to
challenge him for the right to marry him.
Finding that you had felt all your life to be
a barely tolerated outsider, only to be
upgraded to prime husband material was a bit
of a shock.

 Interesting. Akane was trying hard to look
as if she weren't looking. Nabiki was being
quite forward, and Nodoka would not be at all
surprised if she attempted to seduce Ranma
before they had gotten back to Japan. Kasumi
kept mentioning that she wanted to do an
exam, and Nodoka hadn't seen her look Ranma
in the eyes yet. The places that Kasumi's
eyes lingered spoke well of Ranma's appeal to
the nursing student, and that said interest
was not entirely medical in nature.

 The Kuonji girl hovered protectively near
Ranma's right. Sister? No, Kuonji-san was
just absolutely dedicated to Ranma. One of
those women who gave themselves utterly,
Nodoka decided after a moment. Her son must
be quite manly to have inspired such
devotion.

 The Chinese "sister" hovered similarly near
Ranma's left, the two girls similar enough in
appearance to be bookends at the moment.
Those two were likely the reason Nabiki
hadn't already tried to take possession of
Ranma.

 The other interested Amazons were currently
arguing with the various Japanese. They had
the most objection to the proposed plans.

 Nodoka watched as Akane finally got up and
motioned to Ranma to follow. Everyone else
seemed caught up in the argument for a few
moments, then noticing that the "prize" was
being led outside, everyone objected to THAT.

 "So, you're a martial artist?" Akane looked
at the furry form next to her. "Why are you
still in your hybrid form, anyway?"

 "Oh, like I was trying to explain back
there, I can't change back just yet. It's a
lunar thing. Depending on the phase of the
moon, a lycanthrope can only shift so many
times in a day. It's a new moon now, so I
can't change until the next phase." Ranma
shrugged. "As for being a martial artist,
yeah, though mainly I'm a Healer. It's pretty
cool to be able fix things instead of just
breaking 'em you know."

 "Uhm, I guess." Akane frowned slightly. She
wanted a good fight, her sisters or the boys
at school didn't really count. She wanted to
test her abilities against someone who was
seriously good. This guy was mainly a healer
by his own definition, so ought to be one of
the worst fighters in the village. She could
then work her way up by challenging a
warrior. Maybe this guy's sister."So, you
wanna fight?"

 Ranma stopped and stared incredulously. He
had no idea Japanese girls were so *forward*.
How aggressive! And she was actually kind of
cute. Nobody had indicated they were
interested in HIM yet, though he had his
suspicions about Azure. "You're *challenging*
me?"

 There were startled gasps and the two turned
to see that they had been followed. The
Amazons were looking aghast. Kasumi motioned
Shampoo to the side for a private word,
however the whole group moved off. From their
huddle, the Amazons continued to shoot
nervous glances at the couple.

 "What's wrong with Akane challenging Ranma?"
Kasumi said quietly to Ranma's sister.

 Unnoticed by the group, Akane appended her
earlier statement to indicate that she just
wanted to spar. Ranma visibly relaxed, THAT
was different. Too bad, the idea that a cute
girl wanted him, fur and all, was quite
intriguing.

 "She challenge him to fight. He no can back
down. As outsider woman, if she beat him they
is married by Amazon Law." Shampoo wasn't
worried, having great confidence in her
brother.

 "WHAT?!" Ukyou, Kasumi, and Nabiki
exclaimed.

 Akane took her place in a circle drawn in
the dirt, facing Ranma and settling into a
basic Cat stance. "Don't worry, I'll take it
easy on you."

 "Akane?!" Kasumi was waving her hands and
trying to get Akane's attention.

 "I'm sorry, but you should go full out.
You'll see why."

 Akane smirked, the boy wasn't even standing
right. "Pretty confident, aren't you? Don't
underestimate me."

 Shampoo walked up to the circle. "Brother?"

 "Whenever you're ready." Ranma nodded, but
never looked away from his opponent.

 "Begin!" Shampoo cut the air with a gesture.

 There was a moment as Akane waited for Ranma
to move, then decided she would have to open.
She ran across the circle and opted to begin
with a punch to his jaw.

 Ranma moved to the side. "Like I said, you
need to fight seriously."

 Akane frowned as she realized her punches
and kicks weren't coming anywhere near the
boy. He seemed to move just enough to get out
of the way, moving fluidly and with
appropriate cat-like grace. She backed off a
little to give herself some open area. Was he
reading her moves? "Why don't YOU attack ME
for real?" Akane then decided to go for a
fast legsweep.

 Ranma seemed to hang in midair over the
legsweep for a moment longer than he should
be able to. "Are you sure?"

 Akane blinked at the fist less than a
centimeter from the bridge of her nose, her
eyes crossing slightly for the instant it was
there. She hadn't even seen him move. "I...
see."

 "Look, from what I see you've probably got
the edge on Azure in HTH. She's probably
better than you with her chosen weapon, which
is tonfa."

 Azure blinked and grinned. He had noticed
HER! Could he know how she felt and was
merely waiting for her to challenge him?

 Akane tried a high kick. Ranma sighed and
struck a pressure point. It was the gentlest
way he could think to disable his opponent,
and with the crowd present he had to think
about the honor of his house.

 Akane's eyes widened as her body seemed to
go limp. She saw the ground rushing up at
her, but felt strong arms grab and support
her. Still as limp as an empty nightie, Akane
felt herself being cradled gently in strong
arms that easily lifted her up and carried
her inside.

 "You'll be OK. Just don't move around too
much when you start regaining control. Some
people get a little dizzy and the motor
control doesn't all come back at once."
Ranma's voice was warm and gentle and caring.
Right now she was his patient, and as such he
was in his familiar role as a Healer.

 Akane could feel her heart thundering as she
looked up into those concerned eyes, that
gentle smile, the warmth from his arms still
seeming to linger where he had carried her.

 "So, that was an Anesthetic Pressure Point?"
Kasumi asked as Ranma emerged from the hut.

 "Yeah. You recognized it?"

 "I recognized the effects." Kasumi resisted
the sudden urge to run her fingers through
the  thick mane of hair. "When can I examine
you? I'm a nurse. I mean I'm studying to be a
nurse. I mean..."

 Ranma's eyes widened. This outsider was
blushing? Did this mean that it wasn't simply
a family honor thing like his mother had
indicated? Or was it a lack of confidence in
her own abilities as a healer? That must be
it. He was getting some doubts that this was
the Nice Lady, but if the Nice Lady took this
girl's shape, there must be a reason!

 Well, he'd give his mother that chance she
wanted. Leaving the village to learn
something of modern medicine and get to know
each of these girls was sounding like it JUST
could turn out to be interesting.
------------------------
 The ship was not the best, just another
fishing vessel that wasn't that picky about
carrying passengers. This particular one had
come recommended by Shampoo's great
grandmother though, so maybe there was
*something* special about it.

 Six girls sat where they could overlook the
deck and watch a boy trying to get acquainted
with his mother.

 "Shampoo sister to Ranma," said Shampoo with
a certain degree of question in her voice, as
if she were beginning to reconsider this
position.

 The other four girls nodded and hmmmed at
that.

 "Girl with spatula fetish also sister to
Ranma?"

 "The name's Ukyou." Ukyou grumbled. "He's my
bond-brother. He's also my fiancee."

 "You confused by being both brother and
sister and also neither."

 "Same with you, huh sugar?"

 "Is same," Shampoo admitted. "Brother good
friend many years. Share many secrets, train
hard, have good sparring partner. Brother
good healer, good cook, good with hands. Tell
many stories about good friend Ucchan..."

 Ukyou immediately brightened. "He talked
about me! What did he say?"

 "You rescue him, you good friend, you good
sister."

 Ukyou immediately sulked upon hearing that
last word. "Well heck."

 "Is not bad being sister." Shampoo paused as
she considered. "So this make Ukyou Shampoo
sister, yes?"

 "I s'pose." Ukyou looked a little uncertain
about having a barbarian princess as a
sister.  The idea occurred to her that she
could have an exclusive right to sell
okonomiyaki in Amazon lands with the tribal
champion as her sister. "Sounds about right.
Are you really a princess?"

 "Yes, Shampoo is princess," answered Azure
for Shampoo. "Or at least very close. She
being groomed to be future Matriarch."
Unspoken was the concept that as a future
Matriarch, Shampoo would have to marry a
strong warrior, not a Healer like Ranma.

 Shampoo had heard it enough that Azure
didn't have to say it. "Great grandmama want
Shampoo marry Ranma, say is no blood relation
but Ranma very strong fighter, very skilled
Healer, can be good asset for tribe."

 "Ranma's teacher as Healer, is Lilac. Lilac
no care who marry Ranma, just want to see
Ranma marry." Azure rolled her eyes. Who
could figure the old Healer? Cologne at least
managed to have some dignity, but Lilac
tended to be rather... earthy.

 "So, you two are really his sisters. In
*his* eyes, if nothing else?" Nabiki smirked.
Two competitors down.

 "That so," Shampoo reluctantly agreed.

 "Way too true," seconded Ukyou, sounding
thoroughly disgruntled.

 "Ah," said Kasumi with a polite smile.

 "That's too bad," said Akane with a grin
that she failed to keep from her face.

 Azure frowned and considered that she might
have some competition.

 "Just as well," suggested Ukyou, her sarcasm
plain. "It's not like he has anything to
offer."

 "Other than he's an expert at shiatsu and
Chinese herbal medicine," appended Nabiki
with an idea of how useful and lucrative that
could be.

 "Other than he skilled warrior who can run
faster than wind," added Azure.

 "Other than he have very kind heart, very
responsible, very concerned with honor."
Shampoo shrugged. He was certainly a lot
better than Mousse.

 "Other than he's quite cute." Kasumi
blinked. "Why are you staring at me like
that?"

 Akane shook her head at the unexpected idea
that KASUMI would find someone like this
Ranma attractive. Wasn't he too young for
her? "Besides, he probably sheds."

 "Nope," Shampoo disagreed. "He use special
shampoo, ancient secret formula of Chinese
Amazons. Formula 68."

 Azure flinched but recovered. "Was bad,
thought you say 69 for a moment."

 "THAT would be bad," Shampoo shuddered at
the thought.

 Everyone WANTED to know what Formula 69 did,
but instead Kasumi asked the safer question.
"What is Formula 68?"

 "Ah, is special formula used by Chinese
Amazon Hairdressers."

 Ukyou and Nabiki exchanged a glance and
simultaneously mouthed "Chinese Amazon
Hairdressers?" but didn't vocalize it.

 "Was adapted from ancient style -
Cosmetology Martial Arts," Azure nodded. "Is
style I learn some but is very limited."

 "Azure no good at ANY style martial arts,"
confided Shampoo to Ukyou quietly. "All she
have going for her is she very strong."

 "Formula 68 very special shampoo. Leave hair
feel like silk. Ranma only one I know who use
all over."

 Azure found herself being glared at by
everyone else.

 "How you know?"

 "I ask. Ranma say so."

 "Oh my." There was a brief moment where
everyone stopped the conversation as Ranma
removed his shirt and shifted into his hybrid
form.

 "Aiyaa."

 "What were we talking about?" Nabiki was the
first to get her mind working again.

 "Were we talking?" Kasumi looked down at
where her hands had somehow ripped the shirt
she had been mending into thousands of little
pieces. "How did that happen?"

 "What?!" Akane pulled her eyes away from the
young boy demonstrating a VERY high speed
kata on the main deck. "Huh? Kasumi, what
happened to my shirt?"
-------------------------
 Ranma looked over this place that would be
part of his morning routine. He'd stay at his
mother's house for one week and commute here
before going to the Tendo place, and from
there to school with two of the Tendo
sisters. Next week he'd actually be staying
here. The week after he'd be spending time at
Ucchan's place, a restaurant she was in the
process of opening. Then he could go visit
with some of his new friends over at that
Nekomi Tech, then there was (ahem) various
others.

 Kasumi came out to greet him. "Hi Ranma? Did
you have a nice trip?"

 "Yeah, think this is gonna be rough on the
shoes though." Ranma shrugged.

 "You RAN all the way?" Nabiki blinked as she
emerged from the house with her sister.

 "Yeah. Don't worry, I've got an inhalator."
Ranma held up one of his newest and most
prized possessions. No more steaming herbal
mixes to fix in order to deal with his
shortness of breath. Instant relief.

 The door to the Tendo house opened again.
Soun stepped out, saw the young boy that all
three of his daughters were smiling at and
reacted with dignity and quiet reserve.

 "WAAAAAHHH! AT LAST OUR HOUSES CAN BE
JOINED!"

 Ranma, rather than sit still and be grabbed
by some hysterical fountain, had jumped.

 Kasumi blinked, amazed at how light Ranma
was in her arms. She'd carried baskets of wet
laundry that had weighed more than he did.
She blushed delicately but didn't move to put
him down. His muscles felt so firm and tight
and warm...

 And got a bit heavier as his hair darkened
and he seemed to compact himself slightly.

 "Uhm, that's just our father." Akane frowned
slightly, putting down the feelings of
jealousy with difficulty. "So that's your
human form, is it?"

 Nabiki was quite openly jealous. Damn, if
she'd just been a little closer! "I think you
can put him down now, Kasumi."

 Soun Tendo stopped where he was as what he
was seeing began to penetrate. Kasumi's blush
was getting progressively deeper, her eyes
were glazing over, and she was looking for
all the world as if...

 Soun's eyes flicked over to his other two
daughters. Uh huh. This put an entirely
different spin on the whole thing. "So, son,
which of my daughters are you going to
marry?"

 "That wasn't the agreement, Daddy. Ranma's
mom said he'd have to choose, but you gotta
admit that Ranma's dad is kinda persona non
grata. So she's using a mother's rights and
says that all the arrangements are of equal
value." Nabiki grumbled a little. She'd
snatch Ranma up in a heartbeat if she thought
she could. His human form was really cute,
his hybrid form was sexy and exotic. Nabiki
appended that. His hybrid form was GORGEOUS.
Maybe she could formally challenge him in his
human form, he wouldn't have that incredible
speed, would he? Then, by the Laws of the
Amazons, he'd have to marry her. Nabiki
smirked as she started to work out details.

 Akane nodded. Sure that she could beat the
others if it came down to it. Sure, she was
voted "most likely to be stuck playing male
roles" but she'd recently become the most
popular girl in school. OR, if Kasumi and
Ranma hit it off, Akane thought she'd have a
clear shot at Doctor Tofu. Tofu or Ranma,
Ranma or Tofu. She must have them both! Akane
blinked and shook her head. Maybe she was
spending too much time around Kuno.

 After a few more minutes of introductions,
and Kasumi reluctantly setting Ranma down,
three of the participants started towards
school.

 After a few moments, Nabiki noted the
rawhide cord showing on Ranma's neck and her
curiosity was engaged. "Say, Ranma, is that
the amulet?"

 "Yeah," Ranma fished out the odd item to
show the two.

 Akane hmmmed. "Why can't I look at it
straight? It's like..."

 "Magic," replied Ranma with a shrug. "Nobody
can look straight at it. I don't know why."

 Nabiki tried to study it herself. The
crystal didn't seem to be of a specific type
of cat so much as a general type of
cattiness. "So what's it do?"

 "Nothing, to anyone else. To me, it helps me
control certain problems with being a
lycanthrope."

 "Problems?" Akane frowned again in thought.
"What kind of problems."

 "Well, the..." Ranma stopped. He wasn't sure
he wanted to tell them about the Cat Ghost or
the Nice Lady. Especially if that Kasumi
actually WAS the Nice Lady somehow. "Er, for
one thing, one of the Loremasters I met said
that the curse of lycanthropy could be spread
by a bite."

 "Turning someone into a werecheetah? Like
yourself? That doesn't sound that bad." Akane
could see a lot of uses for being able to run
and move at great speeds.

 "Nah, if that were all, I would'a given it
to Shampoo by now. She's asked me enough. No,
if a true werecreature bites someone and
spreads the lycanthropy, the infected person
is a little weaker than the original..."

 "Still..." Akane said.

 "And worse, they 'become the thrall of the
true lycanthrope' and almost mindless beasts
when not under that influence." Ranma
shuddered.

 "Thrall?"

 "Slaves," said Nabiki with her own shudder.
The mindlessness part really bothered her and
her own fantasy of being the superfast and
exotic werecheetah was discarded. At least
until a way of removing that problem could be
found. "Pack alpha kind of thing, I guess."

 "It also seems to enhance my endurance a
bit, especially while running." Ranma stopped
at the sight of the school. "Uhm, is that
crowd of people with weapons normal for
around here?"
--------------------------
 Ryouga wandered. It was his usual wandering,
but now he had a mission. Ranma Saotome was
out there, and would destroy his happiness
unless Ryouga struck first.

 A little voice protested that Ryouga wasn't
really happy now. That blind rage wasn't
completely out-of-character, but that he
didn't even know this Ranma. How was someone
he didn't know going to keep Ryouga from
finding any happiness in his life?

 Especially now that he had this hybrid form,
neither wolf nor man, but a form of Power.
Claws that could shred tree trunks, strength
and endurance beyond what he had ever
possessed before, senses so acute that he
could actually track a deer through the
forest. Jaws so powerful that he could kill
that deer with a snap and a twist of his
neck.

 As usual, the little voice fell silent under
the waves of rage and hunger of the werewolf.
Soon, he would find Ranma, and then he could
be happy.
-----Mimir's Well---------
 Grey pried himself out of the wall and
glared at Ares. Considering the rough power
levels of the two, that was about all that
could be done. After a moment, he had a
thought, and quickly left.

 The goddess Kasumi frowned. She hadn't
thought the demon a coward, but there it was.

 Bast, having much more power than the other
two, growled and bared teeth at the wargod.

 Ares flicked a booger at the cat goddess to
show how concerned he was. "This is Neutral
Ground, pussy. You can't attack me openly
without risking serious repercussions."

 Bast's tail lashed but she held her ground.
She hated it when little martinets like this
upset her own games.
---------------------------
 Shampoo and Ukyou arrived at the school
grounds to join Nabiki and Ranma as they
watched Akane pounding boys into the ground.

 "Is some sort of Amazon challenge?" Shampoo
inquired of Nabiki, "or can anyone join in?"

 "This is MY fight!" Akane punched, dodged,
weaved, threw, kicked, and otherwise
decimated her opponents.

 Ukyou merely shook her head and commented
that this *never* happened in Okayama.

 As the foursome prepared to go inside the
school itself, a thrown rose never made it to
Akane.

 "Oops, Shampoo not mean to interfere in
Akane's fight. Just see missle weapon being
thrown and use appropriate countermeasure.
Sorry."

 Kuno's eyes crossed as he noted the rose had
been perfectly intercepted by a throwing
dagger. Said dagger was now quivering in the
surface of the tree less than a foot away
from the chest of the mighty Blue Thunder.
"Who are you to interfere in my courtship of
Akane Tendo?"

 Ranma and Shampoo exchanged a smirk and a
nod. Ukyou gave a delighted chuckle and
joined them a moment later.

 "Where heroes fight against overwhelming
odds, I will be there!" Ranma went into a
sentai pose.

 "Where evil rears its ugly head, I shall
battle!" Shampoo produced her bonbori and
likewise posed.

 "Where injustice rules, I shall oppose it!"
Ukyou unslung her big spatula and posed like
the other two.

 "Uhm, guys?" Akane sweatdropped. "What're
you doing?"

 "Intro scene from a story I'm rather fond
of," Ranma said with a "spoilsport" look at
Akane. "Something I dreamed of over at
Tenchi's place. I am Ranma Saotome, Healer of
Nichieju."

 "I Shampoo, Warrior of Nichieju!"

 "I'm Ukyou Kuonji, owner of Ucchan's
Okonomiyaki. Grand Opening in two days. Lunch
specials are... Err..." Ukyou trailed off as
she realized the other two were now staring
at her. "Sorry."

 "By the Light Of Jurai, WE SHALL PUNISH
YOU!"

 Lightning crackled. By odd coincidence it
struck Kuno.

 "Well, come on." Ranma shrugged and went
inside. Geez, he'd hoped to shift to hybrid
and make it look like some of those neat
tricks he had dreamed of while sleeping in
the branches of that big tree out on the
lake. He could'a called it 'Fist Of The
Lighthawk' or something...

 He missed that. Sleeping in that tree, he
had had some of the most intense and detailed
dreams of his life. He'd seen stories of
glory and honor and ancient tradition, almost
as if he had been there. And of some
woman-ship-tree named Tsunami who reminded
him of the Nice Lady somehow.

 "That no happen before." Shampoo shrugged
and followed Ranma.

 "Well at least we'll get to class on time,
right Akane?"

 "Yeah."

 It started to rain on Tatewaki Kuno a few
moments later.
-----------------------------
 Ukyou watched as the group of odd gaijin
spoke with Ranma and his mother. It wasn't
fair, she'd just wanted to have some time
with Ranma and his mother herself when in
comes this newest group. Not fair at all.

 One of the girls was a werecheetah herself,
taller and more muscular even than Ranma's
hybrid form. At least she didn't speak
Japanese. There was also a girl with glasses
who DID speak Japanese, though not fluently.
A third girl was much the same as the second,
except that she had a curious streak on her
face similar to a werecheetah's stripe.

 The father, though, spoke Japanese quite
well and seemed to have an aura of dignity
about him. What a pity that this wasn't her
Ranchan's real father, it would have been
much better for everyone around.

 "...so once we found the village of
Nichieju, we were able to get your forwarding
address from Elder Cologne. Of course, once
we did, we found that press coverage of both
you and your father was continuing."

 "Yeah," Ranma winced at the idea that his
name and his father's were inextricably
linked in the minds of millions of Japanese.
Family honor indicated that he was at least
partly to atone for his father's actions...

 "So this is the amulet?" The elderly man
waited for Ranma's nod before examining it.
"Hmmm. Sacred to Bast, the Egyptian
cat-goddess, I think. Fairly powerful. It
keeps you from spreading the curse of
lycanthropy among other things, I see."

 "Curse?" Ukyou asked, then blinked as the
man described the effects of secondary
lycanthropy. "Thralls?!"

 "Well," the man smiled at the group. "Here's
my card. My name is Theodore Diggers, and I'd
like to examine that further later. As for
now, I'm afraid my daughters were rather
hoping you were unattatched but I've
explained the situation."

 Ukyou nodded rapidly. Less competition was a
good thing. ESPECIALLY as Ranchan still
couldn't seem to think of her as anything
other than his "Japanese sister." (As opposed
to his equally frustrated "Chinese sister.")
-------Mimir's Well------------
 "Oh," said Kasumi9, ignoring Ares for the
moment. "So what is Ranma's life like in this
reality?"

 "Ah," purred Bast. "Let's see, three days
later."
-------------------------------
MUSIC: Pastorale from William Tell
 Dawn in the Tokyo suburbs, quiet, peaceful,
hardly a sound to be heard.
MUSIC: Overture from William Tell (you know
the part)
 A small cloud of dust is raised and the
screen freezes as a young werecheetah in a
blue Chinese pants/demi-robe combo runs by.
Caption: Name: Ranma Saotome
         Race: Werecheetah
               (Maximus Velocitus)

Screen unfreezes. <ZIP, ZOOM, ZING!>

Cut to scene of another boy, this one in a
white outfit similar in design to the earlier
blue one. He is pushing down the spring of an
ENORMOUS mouse trap that is lying across an
intersection.
 freeze scene as the caption appears

 Name: Mousse
 Race: Human/Hawk (Jusenkyo curse)
       (Gadgeticus Absurdicus)

Unfreeze scene as Mousse continues to strain
to push the bar into place.

Cut to scene of a heavyset man, this one has
a noose lying open on the street. Freeze
screen

 Name: Genma Saotome
      Race: Human (Jusenkyo cursed)
            (Parenticus Loco Extremis)

Unfreeze scene as Genma goes to hide behind
some trashcans.

Cut to scene of a boy with a bandana,
checking his watch and looking down the road.
He grins, and light glints along one fang.
Freeze scene.

 Name: Ryouga Hibiki
 Race: Werewolf
       (Lostia Extremis Fenris)

Unfreeze scene and pan away, sufficient that
we can see that while everyone else is in
Tokyo, Ryouga is waiting for Ranma to pass by
a road in Sapporo.

Cut to scene of Ranma passing a yard. A huge
crowd of girls scream and jump up and down,
holding up a huge "We (heart symbol) Ranma!"
sign.

 Ranma twitches slightly, sweatdrops, but
continues running.

ZIP! ZOOM! ZING!

 Genma hauls back on the rope as Ranma
passes, then runs out to see what he's
caught. As the police officer begins to untie
the noose, Genma starts running after the
blur that is his wayward son.

 Mousse finally gets the bar into position as
Ranma goes shooting through the intersection.
Mousse looks at the trigger, then down at his
feet at the bar, then up at the heavens. At
this point Genma stomps on the trigger as he
runs by. Mousse becomes airborne.

 The police officer notes that the bar nearly
crushed him, decides that the fat man had
tried to lure him into a trap, and calls it
in on his radio. Another crime is linked to
the vile Genma Saotome as the dispatcher
takes down the information.

 Cut to scene of Ryouga, still watching down
the road for Ranma to show up.

 Cut to scene of Ranma, making a ninety
degree turn and inertia defying stop as he
enters the Tendo yard. "Hi, Kasumi, am I in
time for breakfast?"

 "Why yes, Ranma-kun. How was your morning
run?"

 "Oh, usual stuff. Mousse and Pop tried to
catch me, etc. So how's it going with you?"

 "As with yourself," Kasumi smiled back at
the feline-looking houseguest, "pretty
typical weekday."
------Mimir's Well--------
 "Too happy," said Ares with a frown. "If you
two can advise him in dreams, then I can
advise MY player in this drama as well."

 Kasumi9 frowned.

 Bast fantasized about making a few cuts here
and there, and NOT in a timestream.
---------------------------
 Ryouga shifted to hybrid form and grinned.

 Akane did not look at ALL reassured. "You
won't get away with this!"

 Ryouga grabbed Akane and bit down, almost
gently, on the juncture of shoulder and neck.
A thin trail of drool briefly linked the
rapidly angering girl from her tormentor.
"First you, then your sisters, then the
Amazons. Don't worry, out of all my thralls
you'll be my favorite pet. Then I'll have the
pleasure of seeing Ranma Saotome ripped apart
by his own girlfriends." Just as the Kind Old
Man had said in a vision. THEN Ryouga could
settle down with this girl whose anger so
often mimicked his own. Perfect.

 Akane felt her knees going weak and decided
to make one last gesture of defiance. She
should never have gotten angry with her
sisters and gone stalking off on her own. She
had KNOWN that the werewolf had been around.

 Ryouga looked up, spotted another one of the
girls fleeing, and gave chase. This would be
easy.
-------------------
 Shampoo reached the gate and ran into the
Tendo household.

 "Werewolf after Shampoo! He bite Akane, say
make her his thrall, then come after others.
Wants *us* to be ones to kill Ranma!"

 "No way, I ain't gonna let him do that."
Ranma growled and went to hybrid form.

 Nabiki frowned and exchanged a glance with
Ukyou. A spatula cut through a rawhide thong
a moment later.

 "WHAT YOU DO THAT FOR?!"

 "It's quite simple, Ranma. The werewolf has
just involved all of us as targets. In
retrospect, it's quite obvious now that he
was stalking Akane. If he does so, then it is
only a matter of time before he gets at least
one more of us. Worse, if we wait, then we've
got to fight Akane as well."

 "Please, Ranchan. Besides, if YOU do this,
you can always get Doctor Diggers to remove
it later, right?"

 Ranma blinked, being surrounding by girls
who were giving him that pleading tearful
look. Even years spent among the Amazons had
not strengthened him against that sort of
attack. "I have a feeling I'm going to regret
this."
-------------------
 Akane growled as she approached the
compound, sniffing low to the ground as she
picked up her prey's scent. The Master had
commanded, and his Gift would be shared with
her sisters.

 Such strength in this form, such speed.
She'd thought leaping to the roof of the dojo
had been a big deal not long ago. Now she
could easily leap the height and length of
the dojo! Once her sisters came to understand
the nature of the Gift, and the power it
brought them, they would find subservience to
their Master a small price.

 There they were. Her sisters, apparently not
suspecting where their sister had been for
the past day. Akane's grin showed fangs. She
scented the Master, still following Akane. If
only the Master didn't get lost as often as
he did. Akane kept having to track him down
and lead him back.

 Akane leapt, covering the length of the yard
in a single bound, ready to send the two
girls into unconsciousness with a single blow
to each.

 Her mouth shut with a click as other scents
reached her. "MASTER! IT'S A TRAP!"

 <CLONG!>

 Shampoo leapt over the wall as she continued
to run by, bonbori extended, at roughly
75kph.

 The fact that the Amazon had fuzzy ears,
blonde hair, and a tail did not go unnoticed.

 "CURSE YOU, SAOTOME! How dare you treat
women like that!" Ryouga snarled at how both
of Akane's sisters were getting up now,
gettier furrier as they did so.

 Nabiki purred a little as she regarded her
sister and the werewolf that had enslaved
her. "Keeping you on a tight leash, isn't he,
sis? Well, we can fix that."

 "Idiots," Ryouga growled as Akane hurried to
his side. "You can't break her of being my
thrall by having Ranma bite her. All Ranma's
done with this is make it a little more
difficult."

 "There is a problem in that some of us can't
handle silver at the moment," Kasumi said
with a smile that showed off the gleam of her
enlarged canines. Somehow on her it failed to
look threatening.

 The silver chain wrapped around Akane's
legs, causing flames to erupt from the point
of impact. She shrieked.

 Ryouga ran around the outside of dojo, and
got lost somehow.

 "Akane calm down, we'll take the chain off
soon as you're tied up."

 "Ranma know how to heal silver burns, you
not worry."

 "How long before Dr Digger arrives?"

 "He said he'd be over as soon as he wrapped
up some stuff at his end."

 Looking over where Akane was cursing and
spitting and struggling, Shampoo flicked back
some of her newly blonde hair and considered
something. "Ranma, how come Akane slave to
werewolf, but we not change inside?"

 "I dunno, Shampoo. I'm just grateful for
it."

 "Maybe because the werewolf doesn't seem to
be in control that much himself?" As she
spoke,Ukyou edged away from Azure, who seemed
to be a little nervous as the only
untransformed. At least that was everyone's
impression from the way she was fidgeting
with that silver chain.

 "Or maybe..." Nabiki thought about it,
coming up with a number of possibilities that
she immediately discarded. Still there was
one possibility that she kept coming back to.
How to test it?

 "You have an idea, Nabiki?" Kasumi knew her
own sister that well at least. Especially
with Nabiki's tail lashing back and forth
like that.

 "Uhm, Ranma? Do you mind keeping an eye on
Akane? I think we girls need to have a quick
talk."

 Ranma blinked but shrugged after a moment.
"Don't go too far, we're still expecting Dr
Diggers to show up and see if he could remove
this."

 "Ok." Nabiki grinned to herself. Perfect.
She motioned the others to follow her.

 "What is it, Nabiki?"

 "Do you feel any different about Ranma,
sis?"

 The werecheetah chewed her lip as she
considered the question. "No, I don't think
so."

 "Shampoo not feel different about Ranma
either."

 "Same here, sugar."

 "No change in way Sugar feel."

 "Me neither. Now try this question," Nabiki
became aware of the way her tail was lashing
about and made an effort to calm it down.
"How do you feel about your rivals?"

 "I not..." Sugar paused as she thought it
out.

 "Oh my."

 "Aiyaa."

 "No way."

 "Theory, mind you, just theory. We're all
part of the same tribe now, so certain
...complications... might be suppressed. Like
jealousy, possessiveness, etc." Nabiki found
a mirror and spent a moment admiring her new
exotic looks. "Still, this thrall stuff might
be subtler in our case because Ranma doesn't
actually want slaves."

 "Is so. He always have trouble with way some
males treated in village. He make enemy of
two Elders that way." Shampoo remembered
that. He'd also made enemies of a few
amazons, but very few wanted to cross his
sister. Besides, Healers were allowed a few
eccentricities.

 "So how we find out?" Sugar checked her
warclaws. That werewolf might find his way
back. "You clever girl, you figure out test?"

 "He just told us not to go very far."

 "So, if we can leave the house," Kasumi said
with a nod, "then we haven't really been
affected."

 The sound of Akane growling and snapping
increased in volume.

 "Akane psycho-bitch," said Sugar. "Not
nearly same."

 "When Doctor Diggers gets here, he'll cure
us and her." Nabiki squared her shoulders,
and marched off to the front gate. Yes, she
would just leave for a short time, no
problem.

 "Why Nabiki standing at gate? Shampoo
thought that Nabiki go for walk, prove she
have free will."

 Nabiki lowered her foot and considered the
gate. "Yeah, I just don't want to miss Doctor
Diggers showing up." It didn't seem that
important anyway, just a temporary
affliction.

 "Wait second," Shampoo said. <ZIP!>

 <ZIP!> "Ranma say is okay. We go run around
neighborhood, get chance to run like he do!"

 Nabiki stumbled as she went outside her own
front gate. "Hmmm."

 "Shampoo thought so," Shampoo smirked,
looking even more feline. "Race Nabiki, is
okay?"
-----------------------
 "Do you *have* to remove it?" Kasumi asked
politely (of course) of the archimage.

 "Well, I..."

 "*PLEASE*," Shampoo turned her cute pout up
to level seven. "Shampoo really like
powerup!"

 "But you can't transform on your own," Ranma
pointed out. "As this isn't true lycanthropy
but the curse, you'll be stuck in hybrid
form. At least have it downgraded to tertiary
levels so you only change during the full
moon."

 "Put a sock in it, Ranma," Nabiki waved a
furry finger at him. "You could use our help
anyway!"

 "Nabiki, you just disagreed with Ranma."
Kasumi pointed out. "There goes your 'thrall'
theory."

 Nabiki brightened at that, then frowned as
she considered the possibility that he wanted
her to disagree with him, in which case...
 "Change Akane back." Kasumi considered her
sister slavering and growling and thrashing
in the backyard. "If you could just remove
HER curse, then that would be sufficient."

 Doctor Diggers sighed and exchanged a weary
glance with Ranma. The truth was, that with
the number of werecheetahs as limited as they
were... "Well, at least let me put an
enchantment on you that will keep you from
accidently spreading any further cases of
lycanthropy."
------Mimir's Well---------
 Ares looked at the scene and was ready to
make another change when he heard a throat
clearing. He dismissed the demon's return as
inconsequential.

 Thor, standing behind the demon and
fingering his hammer, was another story.

 Raideen, leaning against a pillar and
staring coldly at the Greek god of conquest,
was at least as concerning.

 Ares' own hated opponent, Athena, smirked at
the wargod as if *daring* him.

 "So, how's this turn out, anyway?" Grey
stepped past the wargod. He didn't ignore the
threat mouthed at him by Ares, but didn't
acknowledge it either.

 "Thissss look like it majorrr point herrre,"
growled Bast, just waiting for an excuse to
rip into Ares. She'd manipulated the
timestream twice, Ares had done the same
though even less subtly than she had, so
technically they were even now. "Fourrr
monthsss laterrr."
--------------------------
 Tenchi had come in with the news. Ranma had
been visiting the Tendos in Nerima as part of
that deal with his mother when Genma Saotome
(the infamous Demon Dad) had used a
silver-plated chain weapon to kidnap his son.
Apparently he had come up with the novel idea
of cooperating with the two others also
trying to capture/kill the young werecheetah.

 Ayeka paused as if considering something.
"Lord Tenchi, do I understand correctly and
this 'Ranma' is your sworn bond-brother?"

 "Uhm, yeah."

 "Tenchi's descended from the royal line.
That makes Ranma a Knight as far as Jurai law
is concerned," added Sasami. "Therefore he's
a citizen of Jurai."

 Ryoko grinned, a thoroughly feral looking
expression. She sensed an alliance. "So?"

 "In this case, I must concur with Ryoko!"
Ayeka posed dramatically. "ALL SHIPS MOVE
OUT! For an affront even against minor
nobility, Genma Saotome must be PUNISHED!"

 "Now you're talking!" Ryoko enthusiastically
turned to the cabbit. "Ryo-oh-ki! Let's go!
He's in Nerima!"
----------------------
 Ami came running in. "HE'S HERE!"

 Rei hadn't been sleeping well. Visions of
disasters kept cropping up in her dreams and
some fat man she didn't know seemed to play a
central role in them. "Who's here?"

 "Genma Saotome!" Ami held the newspaper up,
showing a picture of the reknowned "Demon
Dad."

 Rei spat a stream of tea up that managed to
tag her princess. "THAT'S HIM!"

 "NOW can we go get him? I'm sure he's Dark
Kingdom somehow!" Makoto was ready, if they
didn't back her up on this she would do it
herself.

 "He's the one. Somehow, he's responsible for
destroying a good section of Tokyo!" Rei
gasped as she finally could breathe again.

 "Then we MUST stop him," Minako said. "For
love and justice! VENUS CRYSTAL STAR POWER!
MAKE UP!"

 "JUPITER CRYSTAL STAR POWER! MAKE UP!"

 "MERCURY CRYSTAL STAR POWER!" Time to put
the nightmares to rest, Ami thought with a
shudder. "MAKE UP!"

 "I'm pretty sure he's not Dark Kingdom,"
offered Luna, trying to head this off. It
would have been easier to stop a train.

 "You mean we can finally beat on an evil
threat that doesn't beat us into the ground
for the first few minutes?" Usagi blinked.
"MOON CRYSTAL STAR POWER! MAKE UP!"
-------------------------
 "AKANE! NABIKI! KASUMI!" Soun cried to the
heavens. For this to happen on his very
doorstep! Was Genma *trying* to drag the
Tendo family name through the muck as well as
his own?

 "Don't worry, Dad," Akane growled. "I'll
save Ranma!" The image of herself, the
martial arts champion, returning home in
triumph was a heady one. She could just
picture Ranma's gratitude as she saved him!
If he was so nice to her normally, just
think... Akane got a now-familiar vacant gaze
in her eyes as she pictured exactly HOW
grateful he might be. Who knows, maybe he'd
even bite her.

 "Yeah right, Akane, no I'll be the one to
save Ranma!" Nabiki readied her ton-fa
nightsticks. This would be a tough battle but
she had her motivation. When Shampoo had
brought the news of Ranma's abduction, Azure
had made it all a personal bet that whoever
rescued Ranma got first dibs on him. With the
new martial arts techniques she'd picked up
from Azure and Sugar, she was sure to be the
one to rescue her Ranma.

 "I'm very sorry," Kasumi shrugged into her
backpack and made sure she had her specially
built running shoes on. Her tail twitching
back and forth revealed her agitation in a
way her calm expression didn't."*I* will be
the one to save Ranma."
-------------------------
 "<For honor, for love, for our adopted
brother in the tribe!>" Shampoo raised a
bonbori above her head. "<TRACK HIM DOWN LIKE
THE RABID BEAST HE IS! RESCUE OUR BROTHER AND
PUNISH HIS ABDUCTER!>"

 "<YEAH!>" An even dozen weapons were thrust
aloft by a dozen Amazons, each planning on
being the one that rescued their brother from
the foul clutches of the evil Genma. "<CRUSH
HIM! POUND HIM! SMASH THE BEAST!>"

 More than half wanted the promised first
dibs.
-------------------------
 Ukyou ran through the night. Out there
somewhere was her Ranchan. Alone. Alone with
his father.

 "Oh, Ranchan! Be strong! I'll save you and
get my vengeance on that damn father of
yours!"
-------------------------
 "Calling all cars! Calling all cars! Genma
Saotome has been spotted in Nerima! Keep a
lookout for him. He is considered very
dangerous!"

 One policewoman looked at the other in their
patrolcar. "Miyuki?"

 "I'm on it! If I use the nitro we can be
there in five minutes!"

 The two stared as a furry okonomiyaki chef
passed them.
------------------------
 "Two mokkori?"

 "If you can get Genma Saotome, I might go to
three."

 Ryo Saeba's eyes half closed in pleasure at
the thought. "City Hunter will bring in this
vile beast, have no fear!"
------------------------
A scene was replayed with minor variations in
newsrooms, police stations, SDF Headquarters,
the Diet, and various other organizations.

 "Genma Saotome's been spotted in Nerima
Japan. He's kidnapped his son again!"

 Everything stopped. "The 'Demon Dad'?!"

 "Yeah."

 There was a moment of silence before chaos
erupted. Phone calls made, forces mobilized,
alarms going off.

 After all, there would be a great deal of
good publicity for whoever finally stopped
the Demon Dad.
-------------------------
 "All units attention, Genma Saotome was
spotted in the Furinkan Ward of Nerima.
Reward of 200,000 yen has been collected by
the Mothers Against Martial Artist
Dads."(formerly Mothers Against Genma
Saotome, but MA MAD was voted in last year as
the name change.) Dispatch paused. "Ucchan's
Okonomiyaki has also thrown in two free lunch
passes. Now, MOVE OUT!"

 The sentai group moved out, glad they
weren't going after Godzilla or something WAY
out of their league for once.
-------------------------
 The crowd of young girls weren't alike
because of some dress code, there were fukus
and pantsuits, cheongsams and kimonos,
cheerleader outfits and jogging sweats. They
weren't alike because of some hair color or
style, some had hair reaching down to their
ankles, others had a rather boyish looking
hairstyle, the majority were somewhere in
between. While most were black of hair color,
there were also browns, streaked, two
redheads, a girl with lavender hair, and
other hues present. No, they were all alike
because of purpose and one other thing.

 Each and every one of them was carrying a
weapon or something which could be used as a
weapon. Even if it was a simple broom,
gymnastic ribbon, baseball bat, shinnai, or
hammer, each of them had a favored weapon
clutched in her tender young hands.

 "TO NERIMA!"

 The crowd of girls cheered.

 "DESTROY GENMA!"

 Another rousing cheer, even more loud.

 "RESCUE RANMA!"

 The cheer this time was enough to shatter
windows in nearby buildings.

 "KILL THE GENMA! CRUSH THE GENMA! DESTROY
THE DEMON DAD!"

 There was a brief pause among the members of
the "Ranma Saotome Fan Club" as the members
of the "Mothers Against Martial Arts Dads"
went by. The two groups merged, for now
united in their purpose.
-------------------------
 "Gina?!"

 "I'm way ahead of you, Brit. We can be there
in no time."

 "You're not leaving ME behind are you?"

 "You know they won't let you bring half of
your usual weapons, Brianna."

 "But, other than Brittany, he's the last
werecheetah alive!"

 "Jetta's leading a bunch of her people to
track him down now. And you KNOW what good
trackers the werewolves are!"

 "But if they get there first, there won't be
anything left for me to shoot!"
-------------------------
 "Jigen? Goemon?"

 Jigen checked his handgun, frowned slightly,
and wondered if maybe he should go for the
Glock instead of his old Ruger.

 Goemon just raised an eyebrow.

 Arsene Lupin III watched the screaming news
anchor for a moment more before switching off
the television. "We gotta get this guy. Some
people in the press are linking my name to
his, and he's bringing MY reputation down as
a result."

 "Yeah," agreed Jigen.

 "It doesn't help when all a thief has to do
is leave some evidence that it was the Demon
Dad, and the press immediately adds it to his
list. HELL, the guy's committed more
robberies than *I* ever have!"

 "But, Lupin, you've always done the high
profile, high profit cases. You go after
challenges. Genma's just a thief of
opportunity." Fujiko smirked at her
sometimes-rival.

 "Hell, look at this. Nobody believes that
*I* did that job in Sapporo. *Everyone*
thinks it was the Demon Dad. He's more
infamous than I am, and I don't like that."
Lupin shook his head. "And I'd NEVER stoop to
some of this crap."

 "So, we go to Nerima, leave him tied up for
the police, with a note that states that
Lupin wouldn't associate with this bungler on
a Bet." Fujiko shrugged, doing interesting
things to the tight shirt she was wearing.

 "Sounds like a plan."
-------------------------
 Japanese factory workers, taxi drivers,
tourism industry officials, and hundreds of
thousands of others heard the rallying cry.

 Some countries and industries had used the
news of the Demon Dad to stir anti-Japanese
sentiment over the years. After all, no real
effort had been made by the police to punish
this Genma Saotome. Never mind that they
couldn't even FIND Genma Saotome.

 The Japanese people, as a whole, did not
like being linked to bad news. They
especially did not care for the idea of
suffering any sort of economic setback as a
result of such things. That Genma Saotome was
not responsible for the economic bubble
bursting was ignored. He *was* blamed for it
in one rather popular editorial, and as a
result the common opinion was that the
economic prosperity of a few years back had
been destroyed by the actions of one man.

 The Demon Dad, Genma Saotome.

 And with news of his crossdressing disguise,
the most reviled man in Japan.

 The Japanese didn't like being portrayed as
a nation of crossdressers either.
-------------------------
 Genma made a noise as he saw some of what
was going on, televised live from Nerima.
Alien warships jockeying with military
aircraft, police helicopters, Sailor Senshi,
and all manner of news choppers. All with one
mission in life.

 "WHERE IS THAT RAT BASTARD GENMA SAOTOME?!"

 The noise Genma made was halfway between a
squeak and a whine. He made the same noise
several times. He also twitched a lot.

 All he'd wanted was to make Ranma the best
martial artist in the world. Something that
he could be proud of. Something to justify
all that he'd been through. Ranma being the
best would be his Source Of Pride.

 That wasn't so bad, was it?
-------------------
Three years later:
 Nodoka smiled as she watched the children at
play.

 That some were furry and had tails was only
to be expected.

 Nodoka had no idea what one called a family
of werecheetahs. A similar group of lions
would be called a pride.

 Nodoka looked over the kits and their
mothers, and realized that Ranma was a
considerable Source Of Pride. For her as
well.
==================================

definitely an unintended story. something was
irresistable about several concepts here
which might have been better off being
written out seperately:
 1) Ranma growing up as a member of Amazon
society.
 2) The
thrown-to-the-lions-as-part-of-the-Catfist
training.
 3) The idea that the majority of problems in
Ranma 1/2 comes back to "Pride As Motivation"
and the crippling effect this has on the
characters. Ranma in the canon is a
one-dimensional jerk. Akane in the canon is
sometimes nice but mean, jealous, and prone
to rages that would get her the next cell to
Kodachi. Genma has sacrificed Ranma's
development as a sop to his own pride - which
hangs on Ranma becoming the Best Martial
Artist. Nabiki causes the problems to fester
like a overripe wound because of her own
pride in her intellectual edge. Etc.
 4) Ranma the werecheetah (really fast),
Ryouga the werewolf (really strong/ludicrous
amounts of endurance), Mousse pulling gadgets
out of his robes, etc. With Ranma and Ryouga
both having the lycanthropic healing factor.




OMAKE OMAKE OMAKE OMAKE OMAKE...

Island Omake

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
a tale of a fateful trip,
the mate a little ninja man,
the skipper Ko-Da-Chi,
five passengers set sail one day,
on a three hour tour.

A three hour tour.
     <thunder crashes>

The weather started getting rough,
the tiny ship was tossed,
if not for the stubborness of the crew,
the ship would not be lost.

the ship would not be lost.

The ship set ground on the shore of this
uncharted magic isle,

With Ranma...
Kodachi too... <crazed noblewoman laugh>
Two Amazons,
Nabiki and Kasumi-chan.

Here on Kodachi's Isle!
---------------------------------------
 Everyone stood around looking at the boat.
Or, it might be more fair to say, they were
looking at what was left of the boat.

 "Oh dear," Kasumi said as roughly half of
the Kuno family yacht slid down in a rain of
broken boards and plastic.

 "It even worse than time Crazy Stick Boy
crash us on island where Toma try to get new
wife."

 "There's certainly less left of the boat,
that's for sure, sugar."

 "Akane! YOU DUMMY!"

 "Why yell at Akane, Ranma?"

 "Because she went off on the liferaft with
Sasuke and RYOUGA! Ryouga's navigating. Do
you have any idea where they'll end up?"
--------------------------------------
Meanwhile, with the rescue expedition:
 "This sucks," Akane was being unusually
blunt, but didn't really care at this point.

 "Don't worry, Akane, we'll find civilization
soon. I always do!"

 "I don't know about this. Are there
*supposed* to be penguins in Hokkaido?"

 "Don't say *another word*, Sasuke. I'm
wearing a bathing suit and a shirt. I'm in
the Antarctic. Why? Because *you* leaned back
against the surface of the raft with a pocket
full of shuriken. Because Ryouga here
insisted that the compass was lying."

 "It was! They always do. I'm sure it's all
Ranma's fault. Somehow."

 "Mistress Akane, did you paint your toenails
blue or should I worry?"

 "Sasuke. Exactly *where* in this outfit do
you think I would carry nail polish?"

 "The same place your sister Nabiki carries
her wallet? The same place that Miss Shampoo
carries her bonbori and sword? The same place
that..." <WHAM> "...you carry that hammer."

 "Look, see, I promised we'd find
civilization. See!" Ryouga pointed.

 "Somehow a blinking pink neon sign
proclaiming 'Evil Overlord's Secret
Laboratory' doesn't exactly fill me with
confidence." Akane wasn't sure whether she
wanted to be angry at Ranma for being lost
overboard, hopeful that Ranma would hurry up
and rescue her, upset that her own plans to
be the rescuer instead of the rescuee were
not going terribly well, or just wonder what
the heck had happened to P-chan.

 "C'mon, Akane, it's not like you to be so
negative."

 Akane merely glared at her tormentor,
shivering violently, and headed for the
Gothic looking old house. It at least looked
warm. The organ music indicated someone was
probably home.
------------------------------------------
Meanwhile, back at the lagoon:

 Nabiki lazed back in the sun and enjoyed the
radiant heat, the cool breeze from the ocean,
and the sounds of Ranma in a panic.
Occasionally the patented Crazed Noblewoman
Laugh or shout of "airen" would form a
punctuation.

 "So let me get this straight," Ukyou said
after a moment. "Kodachi was planning on
this? She sacrificed her yacht just so she
could deposit a few rivals on an uncharted
desert island, then she and Ranchan could use
the little lifeboat to go get help? Except
that help would never arrive?"

 "Yeah." Nabiki turned over, letting herself
bake a little more evenly. "I figured out the
details when I noticed that only the
equipment remaining on the boat had been
sabotaged. The lifeboat was completely
undamaged. Everything I thought to check was
deliberately set up to deposit a few rivals
out of the way."

 "Except that both she and Ranma were knocked
out during the storm, and by the time they
came too the rescue party was already
underway." Ukyou rubbed her head, sure she
was going to get a headache.

 "A fair summation," agreed Cologne. "Adding
that Miss Kuno got some additional hangers-on
when given the chance to escape July Heat in
Tokyo."

 "Oh my," Kasumi agreed.

 "So we're stuck here. On a deserted island.
With Ranchan..." Ukyou thought that if it
weren't for certain other people here, and
the lack of okonomiyaki fixings, this setup
could have promise.

 "First order of business is to procure the
necessities of life. Fresh water, food,
shelter."

 "Would you like some tea?"

 Everyone stared at Kasumi, who had produced
an icechest and a jar of sun tea from
apparently nowhere.
-------------------------------------------
 "Bwee! Bweee! Bweeeee!"

 "Hahahahahaha. Ha. Hmmm. Well, back to the
drawing board."

 "What did you do?" Sasuke looked on in
horror.

 "P-chan? Where did you come from?"

 The crazed-looking scientist (well, he was
wearing a labcoat)  looked at his rifle in
disgust. "This was SUPPOSED to fire a blast
of curse energy at a target. Transforming
them in a heartbeat into buxom oversexed
mostly brainless young girls. All part of
plan #343 in How To Conquer The World. If
nothing else I could have sold it to
Happosai. Instead it just turned your
companion into a cute little piglet. Feh."

 "Can you at least turn the heat up a little?
It's freezing in here!" Akane pulled the
blankets around her a little tighter.

 "Oh. Sure. No problem. Hey, I might be a
diabolical mad scientist out to rule the
world, but I'm not *heartless.* I'll have a
warm bath ready for you soon. No point in my
prisoners getting frostbite." Doctor Gabe
moved a control that raised the temperature
in the cell to the mid-80s. The bath was set
for a nice comfortable 110. It was
unfortunate that the absent-minded mad
scientist hadn't noticed that both controls
were in Celsius whereas the rest of the house
was set for Farenheit.

 "Thank you," said Akane and Sasuke quite
sincerely. At least he wasn't some prince
trying to marry Akane.

 "Bwee," managed P-chan.
----------------------
 "Ranma-sama! We must leave now!"

 "Good idea. How are we gonna do this?"

 Kodachi stopped. "Oh dear." The boat was
still disintegrating. Without looking, she
knew it would be. After all, she'd been the
one to set it up that way.

 "So, will Crazy Girl tell why try trap on
island. Shampoo can *build* boat if need."

 "You don't understand, harridan, this island
is..." Kodachi noted that Ranma and the
Amazon had been joined by a chef and the
Elder. She hesitated.

 "Hey guys, you wouldn't believe the fog
that's rolling in," Nabiki stepped into the
clearing.

 "AAAAHHHH!" Hesitation was replaced with
panic. "Go NOW. We have to leave NOW!"

 "A fog?" Ukyou wondered aloud. Why was
Kodachi panicking at the mention of a fog?

 "Yeah, it was getting steadily thicker for
the past half hour or so. Odd thing, it
hasn't come on shore. Think it might be some
kinda cold water current or something."

 Kodachi slumped to the ground with a moan of
despair.

 "This is one of *those* islands, isn't it?"
Cologne said with apparent calm.

 "We are riding the back of the turtle..."
Kodachi said in a weak voice. "We'll reappear
near Japan... in about fifteen years."

 Everyone was rather surprised to see Nabiki
jumping up and down on the gymnast after the
initial shock wore off.
----------------------------------
 P-chan leapt into the boiling hot water,
emerging a moment later with a giggle and a
lot more jiggle.

 Akane saw the overendowed girl in the tub
and at first assumed that Doctor Gabe had
captured someone else. Then she saw the leer
on this other girl's face and wondered if she
could request a different cell.

 Sasuke got a nosebleed and fainted.

 As Akane was the only person conscious, and
Ryouga-chan was feeling *very* affectionate,
we'll turn our eyes away from the screaming,
splashing, chasing, and giggling. Suffice to
say that Akane didn't get a hot bath or any
sleep, and Ryouga-chan didn't quite manage to
catch Akane at any point. Akane did, indeed,
finally collapse from exhaustion. This left
Ryouga-chan quite despondent.

 Sasuke woke up, made like a ninja, and hid
during all this.

 When Akane finally awoke, the chasing,
screaming, splashing, and mad giggling began
again.
----------------------------------
     "Look, this is a resource, just like any
other. We can all share it, but we can't all
have our own, there's only this one available
on the island. However we decide this we can
all wind up with a little bit of  the whole
thing or not have any for the next fifteen
years. Except for the one lucky one. Now, *I*
think that the one lucky one wouldn't be so
lucky as we'd all be trying to steal it from
her, and would all resent her for having what
we want so badly. So I suggest we put it to a
vote. Do we determine one lucky winner or do
we decide to come to some sort of
compromise?"

     Ranma emerged from behind a bush,
screaming. "What makes you think I'd put up
with..."

     All the girls looked at him and he slunk
away.

     "Okay," Nabiki resumed her spiel.
"That's it, the only down comforter on the
island. Who gets it?"

     Ukyo raised a hand. "You know. The same
logic *does* apply to Ranma-honey as well."

     "We'll get to him in a minute. First,
who gets the blanket?"
-------------------------------------
Meanwhile, back at Doctor Gabe's Antarctic
Hidden Base:
 "AAAAAAAHHHHH"

 "Akane-chan, wait! Wait for me!" <giggle>

 "AAAAAAAHHHHH!"

 Doctor Gabe blinked at the sight. Maybe his
gun worked but had a delayed effect? Only one
way to find out. He carefully took aim at the
ninja who was trying very hard to pretend he
was just a lamp in the corner and fired.

 "Akane-chan! Akane-chan!"

 "Mistress Akane!"

 "AAAAAAAHHHHH!"

 Doctor Gabe blinked. It worked? One of his
devices actually worked as planned? Yes! He
could now begin conquering the world! By
using his diabolical invention, he could
transform half the world into buxom
nymphomaniac bimbos. The other half would be
too busy running or engaged in other
activities for there to be any resistance.
"VICTORY...WILL...BE...MINE!"

 "Akane-chan! Akane-chan!"

 "Mistress Akane!" <giggle>

 "AAAAAAAHHHHH!" <Splash!> "Yeowtch! HOT!"

 "I'll kiss it and make it better!"

 "STAY AWAY!"

 "Then let *me*...."

 "STAY AWAY!"

 Doctor Gabe considered. If he went to New
York City, he could hit the UN building. It
would require building a cannon or bomb
version of his rifle, but it might work. No,
too many heroes. Hmmm. A major field test of
the improved version should be someplace
where the change wouldn't give anyone any
warning.

 Ah, perfect. He'd start his plans to conquer
the world in one of the wards of Tokyo. Azabu
Juuban, perhaps, or Nerima. Crowded suburbs,
access to communication centers and
equipment, plenty of transportation if things
turned dicey.
---------------------------------------------
-----
 Morning on the island:

 "Why such strange stuff wash up in lagoon?"

 "Because, child, this island is not only a
physical island, but an island in the stream
of time and space. Literally anything could
wash up on these shores."

 "There must be 10,000 socks here!" Nabiki
stared at the piles of drying socks. "And
none of them match."

 "What this stuff?"

 "It's a box for Manga No Mori. Looks like
one of their shipments ended up here." Nabiki
eagerly ripped open the box. At last,
something to READ! "I don't recognize the
author, though. Takahashi?"
---------------------------------------------
------


Now this is the tell of the castways,
they're here for a long, long time,
they'll have to make the best of things,
it's an uphill climb.

The Amazon
and the Elder too,
will do their very best,
to make the others comfortable,
in their tropic island nest.

No phone,
no lights,
no kendoists,
not a single luxury,
like Robinson Crusoe,
as primitive as can be.

So join us here each week my friends,
you're sure to get a smile,
from many stranded castways,
here on "Kodachi's Isle."

EPILOGUE:

 Akane heard the voices coming up the walk
and ran to the door. "Ranma, is that you?
Where have you been the past ten months,
you... you..." Akane watched Ukyou walking in
with a baby and twitched. She didn't have any
trouble noting a resemblence. "Idiot..." This
last word was more breathed than said.

 "You slept with Ukyou?! Ranma! You..."
Akane's eyes bugged out slightly more as
Shampoo entered, cooing at an infant that
looked like... "AND Shampoo?!"

 "Oh, hi, Akane!" Nabiki walked in with her
own child, quickly joined by Kasumi who was
leading a little girl in. "Just so you know,
more time has passed for us than for you.
Enchanted island kind of thing."

	"Kasumi? Who's the kid?" Akane seemed to
hear Nabiki's voice echoing within her head.
Time? What? It had only been...

	Kasumi smiled down. "It's my little Kakaru.
Ranma's and my son."

	Akane blinked and her eyes fastened on the
baby in Nabiki's arms. "Err..."

	"Kinnosuke. Ranma and me. Yes. Akane."

	"Eeep," Akane eeped, feeling rather faint.

	Kodachi walked in, smiling and obviously
pregnant.

	"RANMAAAAA!"

	"Oh hi, Akane." Ranma walked in, looking
older and more worn. "We're back."

	"ALL OF THEM?!"

	"Hey, I was faithful to you for twelve
years," Ranma shrugged. "After that, well,
heck what WERE we supposed to do on a desert
island after all that time?"

	Akane would have gotten angry, but she opted
for fainting instead.



-----------------------------------------
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ja ne,
gregg