changes, revisions, explanations, some scenes cut and others
inserted.

Featherbrite's Tale, the Bet. v2.5
by Gregg Sharp based on Rumiko Takahashi's situations/char
other char TM other authors.
Metroanime@mindspring.com
http://metroanime.home.mindspring.com/

"You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it
with a club."
       -Jack London

"They're right that travel broadens one and exposes you to
all sorts of new experiences. So make sure you get your
shots before you go."
       - Mambo Jack

6: Osaka Or Bust
     OR... Nabiki Tendo in "Let's Make A Deal!"
--------------------------------------
 In a lot of Somewheres, there is an otherwise mythical
place called Japan. In a lot of the versions of this
mythical land is a ridiculously large and sprawling city
called Tokyo, Tokio, or some variant thereof. Such sprawling
cities usually end up with segments of themselves that have
other names, so that these imaginary inhabitants of these
mythical regions can identify one segment of their city from
another. In some of these no doubt ridiculous fantasies,
there is a chunk of the city of Tokyo which is known as the
prefecture of Nerima or Nerima-shi.

 In such a fanciful setting, one could further imagine
segmenting the city down further to make manageable chunks
out of it, thereby increasing your chances of actually
finding one of these imaginary inhabitants. There might even
be a few variants of those with a Nerima-shi, which would
contain a few notable locations such as a Tomobiki-cho or a
Furin-ken.

 Of course, if one could imagine this, one could easily
imagine that within such a section as Furinken (sometimes
spelled Furinkan) that there would be a number of dwelling
places and businesses and some locations that were a bit of
both.

 And, though this might be stretching it, that one of those
purely imaginary beings, in a totally hypothetical dwelling,
in just such a mythical city, in a land that was just made
up by someone years ago, would have come across a book of
Magic and realized one of the very great Truths of
existence.

 Ignorance may not be bliss, but it can be far more
comfortable than realizing that Everything You Thought You
Knew Was Wrong. Of course, this wasn't completely true
either,but that would be revealed rather later in a
different chapter dealing with stabilizing reality and
predominant paradigms and feedback loops.
--------------------------
 Nabiki growled at the figures in front of her, not finding
NEARLY the satisfaction she had in the comforting flow of
numbers that she usually did.

 Her eyes tracked back to The Book as they did frequently.
The problem she knew, was one of control. Her various
businesses, loans, the shake-downs and the photos, all were
a full time job. In order to pursue this new line, she would
have to relinquish control over at least some of her current
work.

 There was Ryonami, her most promising factor. She could
take over much of her bookie business. Midori could take
over other duties, while Akira or Hikaru could quite easily
handle the photo jobs. It was just that she had worked so
long to put it all together, how could she relinquish any of
it?

 Nabiki leaned back in the chair and sighed. Well, that was
only PART of the problem, wasn't it?

 It galled her. The Ice Queen, the tough girl who had no
heart, who could destroy people without a second thought,
was human too. She missed Ranma. Missed an unasked for
iinazuke who had brought chaos and the bizarre into her
life, and had vanished just as quickly.

 He'd left enough bizarre behind to occupy her attention,
but she found herself missing HIM.

 Nabiki threw the pencil down onto the ledger and pressed
her hands up against her face. Why was this happening to
her? She liked boys, unlike Akane, but she had never lost
control. She'd never felt an absence like this (other than
her mother). Akane had one kind of strength, she had
another. To lose that edge...

 She was used to playing with sharks. Any sign of weakness
and she could be pulled down into those dark waters without
so much as a ripple.

 A voice seemed to whisper in her head that maybe, just
maybe, it was time to give up being a shark. She had enjoyed
being a shark, but could see where sooner or later, she'd
stumble. The voice whispered again that maybe, just maybe,
she could be a dolphin instead.

 Dolphins seemed to have more fun than sharks. Lived longer,
too.

 The ancient leather tome, gilt-edged, seemed to call her.
In it were information gathering techniques beyond anything
she'd ever tapped into. In it were ways that she could take
control of her life and take steps away from the familiar
life she'd led. Into an unknown future where nothing was
certain.

 Had she overreached by taking it? Would this be damnation,
or salvation?

 Nabiki Tendo, of course, did not realize that the Book was
looking at her and wondering much the same thing.
---------------Faerie Realm----------------------
 The figure loomed over the comparitively tiny girl before
it, long fangs dripping saliva, batlike wings spread out
impressively, yellow eyes staring down at the morsel before
him.

 "Why hello, Mister Dragon, it's a beautiful day isn't it?"

 The dragon paused. He blinked. The mouth shut with an
audible crash. Shaking his head, he again bared fangs,
essaying a growl that echoed off the mountains.

 "I'd really love to chat, but I've got to get this water
back to my friends."

 The growl trailed off to an uncertain whine. He blinked
down at the little figure in front of him. The mouth shut
and opened and shut again.

 "Is there something wrong, Mister Dragon?"

 The dragon looked pleadingly at the sky and muttered
something about the unfairness of it all and why did this
sort of thing happen to him?

 "Look 'ere," the dragon finally rumbled at Kasumi. "Aren't
you at least a little bit scared?"

 "But you're so cute!"

 Kasumi felt the shudder in the ground as something weighing
over ten tons facefaulted.

 "Oh my."

 "Ah think that would be my line," the dragon mumbled into
the dirt. Unplanting his face,
he stared directly at the human in front of him.
"Look,you're a human, and from the smell of you, you've been
baptized, right?"

 "It's really not polite to tell someone they smell, I
think." Kasumi frowned ever so slightly.

 The ground shuddered again, this time from the dragon
slamming his chin down on the ground. "Look, you're NOT
doing this right! Can we get back to the usual deal, eh?"

 "Oh, I'm sorry," Kasumi cocked her head at the dragon.
"What am I doing wrong?"

 Muttering something about how this sort of thing never
happened in his youth, the dragon shook his head as if to
clear it. "Look, you're SUPPOSED to either flee in mortal
terror, or attack me in some misguided religious fervor, or
challenge me in order to free the elf from her centuries
long sleep, OR try to steal the magical sword from its
prison. Okay?"

 "I'm sorry. Should we start over?"

 The dragon thought for a moment. "No. I don't think it
would be the same." He seemed rather dejected. "What gave it
away?"

 "Pardon?"

 "What gave it away that I wasn't a bloodthirsty monster who
would snap you up and devour you as a light breakfast?"

 Kasumi briefly thought of saying that the entire attack was
off. That the dragon charged forward, then stopped. That the
snapping out of his wings was entirely reminiscent of
intimidation tactics used to ward off some species of
predators by certain insects. That he had made several
warning moves, indicating an attempt to frighten as the
dragon had sufficient speed and power that he could have
sped out and killed her before she'd known he was there.
Instead she merely said "I had a feeling."

 "Oh, magic, psychic abilities, familiarity with
dragonkind?" The dragon seemed hopeful.

 "No, just a feeling. Oh, I'm Kasumi Tendo." Kasumi bowed
slightly, no reason not to be polite. "Could I ask you for a
favor?"

 "I'm Drath, Magical Site Guardian third class." Drath
looked sadly at his cave. "I'm just having a Maalox
millenium, I am. No wonder I couldn't make second class."

 "Could you heat up the water in this kettle, Mister Drath?"

 "Great, from Magical Site Guardian (third class), I get
demoted to tea-maker. You won't tell any other dragons, will
you? I'd never live it down. Not that that will really be a
problem."

 "Oh?" Kasumi smiled as flames enveloped the kettle briefly.
This would do. If she walked slowly it ought to be cool
enough not to burn Ranma when she changed him back.

 "Yes, one of my little talents. I've always known the
moment of my death." Drath sighed. "But it's dangerous for
you here. Whatever it is that's going to kill me is going to
arrive within the next five minutes."

 "My, that must make things...tidy." Kasumi nodded as the
dragon resumed heating the teakettle. "What's arriving?"

 "I don't know," the dragon sighed. "Four minutes now.
Y'know, I really wouldn't mind this so much, we've all got
to go sometime, but there's so much I've wanted to DO!"

 "Oh, you've made plans." Kasumi was slightly interested
now. She'd just cut major ties with her own past and was
trying to decide what she'd be doing while she thought
things out.

 "Well, yeah, sorta." Drath shook his head. "Never had kids,
never got to see the sunrise over the Dire Straits, never
met a princess, never done anything REALLY important or even
accomplished much except get rooked into watching an elf
who's put herself into enchanted slumber, and a magic sword
of sorts."

 "How disappointing." Kasumi looked with sympathy at the
dragon. "I'm sorry, but I really must go now. My friends
need me."

 "Hmmm. Hang on. You're a human in the Faerie Realm, you're
with friends. You wouldn't happen to be on a quest, would
you?"

 "Well, I suppose."

 "Good. Can you hold something for me?" The dragon grinned.
"If I'm going to die anyway, I might as well spite whoever
or whatever the thief is in some little way, eh?"

 "I suppose..." Kasumi repeated, looking a little uncertain.

 A claw reached into the stream and pulled out a pearl
roughly the size of a baseball. "Take this with you. Give it
to the person you deem most worthy."

 Kasumi took the strangely warm pearl into her hands, bowed
slightly and started her trip back to camp. Such a nice
dragon. She wondered what it was that was going to kill him.

 "And if your friends are OK, come by later. I'd at least
like to have a pyre, y'know." Drath nodded and checked
"Participate In A Grand Quest" off the list of things he'd
never had a chance to do. Drath sat back and watched the
girl go. "That was a strange one, but destiny walks with
her. Maybe I can get an adventure accomplished posthumously
if this works."

 Drath checked his mental clock. The purple-haired girl
hiding in the bushes moved back away from the stream. Drath
lowered his head slightly. Not that one either?! Then how
was it that he was going to die in thirty seconds?

 He scanned the sky with eyesight far keener than a falcon.
His ears twitched, ready to catch a cricket's footfall. He
sniffed the air, with an olfactory acuity similar to a
bloodhound. Nothing registered on his senses that was out of
the ordinary.

 What a nasty headache he was beginning to get. Reminded him
of when he'd eaten icecream too fast. Still, no one ever
died of a....

 The dragon keeled over, dead before he hit the ground.
Cerebral hemorraghes tended to do that.
-----------------------------------------
 Hot water splashed over Ranma, causing the familiar
transformation. He blinked up to see a face he hadn't
expected to see ever again. "Kasumi?"

 "Ranma, are you okay?"

 "Hah, it'll take more than a few drugs to keep me down,"
Ranma rolled to his feet. Unfortunately the world seemed to
be rolling right along with him and he kept going.

 "Airen has more pride than sense, Shampoo think." The
Amazon looked over her airen and wondered if maybe he ought
to be restrained in bed. She smiled at the thought. That
could be fun!

 "Ranma, they knew what they were doing. They most likely
used some really powerful drugs. You're going to have to
move soon. In the meantime, I have to go check something."
Featherbrite hovered a little uncertainly.

 "Shampoo carry airen this time. You awake now, so you just
hang on while Shampoo carry you piggy back."

 "I'm going to search for a weak point so we can get back to
the mortal realm. Try not to get into any trouble while I'm
gone." Featherbrite had recovered enough to do basic
reconnaisance. "And stay away from any Unseelie!"

 "What mean Unseelie?" Shampoo looked up from checking her
weapons. "Mean enemy?"

 "Shampoo, try speaking Mandarin instead of Japanese."
Featherbrite rubbed her forehead.

 "Okay, but I really don't think big sister Kasumi speaks
Mandarin, especially the Nichieju dialect."

 "My, Shampoo, your Japanese has just improved
dramatically!"

 "Eh?"

 "There's a translation effect here." Featherbrite sighed.
"Ok, here's the deal. Ancient times on Earth between one of
the sets of Ice Ages, ok? You've got a magical race which
can go between one universe and their home universe at the
'weak points' - are you with me so far?"

 Ranma looked off, a little bored, he'd heard all this
before. Besides, someone needed to keep watch.

 "What is Ice Age?"

 "A winter lasting centuries," the faerie replied. Well, at
least she was paying attention. "These travellers, the
faerie, found this other world strange and wonderful. Energy
and matter were constants, not variables, but life energy
was thin and there was traces of poison in a lot of things.
Natural abilities for a being of Faerie were unknown in that
other world's life.

 "After a time, it was noted that in some areas, the faerie
had tampered with the lifeforce of the planet, producing
strange animals and effects. One of these, I suspect, is
Jusenkyo. It turned out that the Faerie Court was about to
have its first and only Civil War dealing with the
consequences of using this planetary lifeforce.

 "Those who felt we should not kill, not cripple this other
world by stealing its life were known as the Seelie faction.
They became the Seelie Court. My tribe, the pixies of the
wind and sky, are among the Seelie Court. The tree nymphs,
such as Holly, are also of the Seelie Court. It doesn't mean
that we aren't humans, but we don't hate or abuse humans.
Those who felt that this world and its life were to be used
without concern, they were known as the Unseelie. Do you
understand?" (1)

 Shampoo nodded. "You mean that they are enemies. I
understand."

 Featherbrite sighed. Well, maybe she'd gotten the most
important point at least.
-----------Nerima, Japan-------------------
 Hikaru Gosunkugi looked from the new spellbook (which had
fallen from a tree in his own backyard, narrowly missing
him) to the various circles, sigils, lit candles, the bowl
of pure rainwater, sacrifice of old ways for new (ashes from
his previous spellbooks), and the three stones.

 That the book had fallen from a tree was not nearly so
concerning to Gos as the giggle and feminine voice that said
"oops" quite distinctly...

 Upon these three stones were scribed the words that he'd
found in the book, which invoked the changes that he wanted
to accomplish.

 Having finished all this with attention to every detail,
Hikaru paused. Much as he cared for Akane, this was a big
step. Casting it would likely destroy him, even if it were
successful. Make that especially if it were successful.

 Plenty of guys had been willing to fight for Akane. How
many of them would be willing to die for her? How many would
literally unmake themselves for her? Gos couldn't think of
one among the throng. Excepting one.

 That one checked everything a third time, and Hikaru
Gosunkugi cast the spell.

 Five minutes later, upon completing the spell, Hikaru
Gosunkugi (Furinken SHS student) ceased to exist.
------------------------------------------------
 (1) The opening sequence of Devilman with a LOT of
rescripting.

 (2) Can you picture anyone in this series willing to
sacrifice their own ego for Akane's happiness? i only came
up with one possibility, obviously.
-------------Nerima, Japan---------------------------
 Akane stared at the television. She blinked. "NABIKI! Get
down here!"

 Nabiki came down, wondering if paint had been peeled off
the house from her sister's shriek. She was irritated by the
interruption, she had *important* things to think about.
Especially when she saw what was currently playing. "What, a
commercial for Suntory?"

 "No, it was the 'coming up next' segment." Akane pointed.
They still had to wait through a
Tampax and Micro-M commercial.

 "Footage from Nerima earlier today that has captured the
imagination of a nation," the announcer began.

 "Sailor..." Akane began.

 "Amazon?!" Nabiki blinked. "I guess Shampoo called in for
backup."

 "WHAT HAS HE DONE?" Genma shouted, appearing out of
nowhere. "Oh, the shame that my only son..."

 "You're gonna have to pay those nice men back, eh, Mister
Saotome?" Nabiki grinned. "Oh dear. And here you've spent
some of that money, haven't you?"

 "Huh?" Akane looked back and forth. She noticed that
Genma's face had gone quite pale. "Oh."

 "Meaning that he may have to pay back money he's already
spent to people who LOVE inflicting pain on other people."

 Genma started looking for some cold water. It was time to
be just a cute little panda.

 Nabiki turned back to the screen, now showing a still frame
of Sailor Amazon as she unleashed her "Kawaii Hurricane."
The blowing sakura petals were a nice touch.

           It shouldn't take much to determine if she was
right and Sailor Amazon WAS the only
Chinese Amazon she personally knew. She thought she knew the
right page for this.

 If so, then she'd have to help cover their tracks. Even
Genma and her father might figure out the link between
Sailor Amazon appearances and the vanished threesome.

 Her eye caught the next segment, an interview with the
creator of Sailor Moon. *This* brought up other
possibilities.
------------Fairy Realm----------------
 Ranma watched the towering flame that marked one heck of a
big lizard going up.

 "AIREN!" Shampoo stuck her head out of the cave and
beckoned her two companions.
"Shampoo find treasure cave!"

 The cave interior proved to be about the size of football
field. Each of the three adventurers proved to have their
own priorities while looking around.

 Shampoo made a beeline for a wall that had a number of
weapons hanging on display. No
stranger to such setups, she determined which was the false
weapons, where the traps were, and where the switch for the
false panel was. Otherwise it was definitely a "kid in the
candy store" reaction.

 Ranma looked over the greatest concentrations of magic,
which were the two items in the center. A wooden shortsword,
thrust pointfirst into a hovering crystal dias had the
strongest aura.

 Next to the sword was an odd crystal coffin containing some
elfin maiden who looked as if she was asleep. Brushing some
of the dust off the coffin, Ranma noted that it had to have
been here a long time even by faerie standards.

 Odd, he could have sworn her eyes were closed a moment ago.
Must be the weird lighting.

 Kasumi didn't want to touch anything. It wouldn't be
proper. Well, the nice dragon HAD said something about
foiling the thieves who had killed him. Maybe she *should*
take a couple of things. Certainly that band of beaten gold
seemed to call her.

 She was reaching for it when she felt Ranma's hand on her
wrist.

 "No, Kasumi, that one's got a curse on it." Ranma had had
enough of curses himself, he'd started looking around for
anything bearing that sort of taint now as a reflex. "Take
THIS one, instead."

 Kasumi looked at the one Ranma was indicating. A simple
wooden ring with a Celtic sort of design. It did look rather
nice.

 Ranma left to convince Shampoo not to carry off half the
weapons from the wall.

 Kasumi noted that there was a box that the cursed ring was
on. It occurred to her that by touching the cursed ring, it
might inflict a curse by that method. (She'd become
interested in fantasy literature recently. Very recently.)
Seeing a wooden sword (which shouldn't be much of a bother),
Kasumi decided to use IT to push away the cursed ring so
that the box could be safely opened. She was just...curious.

 The sword came away from the dias quite easily.

 Ranma and Shampoo both stared openmouthed as Kasumi was lit
up by a golden beam of light and something not unlike the
"Halleluiah chorus" started playing.

----EYECATCH--------------
 RPG music plays in the background. Three typical RPG
archetypes wander through a 2D landscape, also typical of
70-80s videogame RPGs. (Ranma as the Mage, Shampoo as the
Warrior, Kasumi as the Cleric, all are in SD form.)

 Music changes to a battle sequence and we see the typical
battle scene beginning. The backs of the three characters as
they prepare for a fight are shown.

 Ryouga wanders into the scene, blinks, and runs offscreen.
A moment later Shammi comes bouncing through.

 Ranma, Kasumi, and Shampoo develop large sweatdrops. Series
title appears.
--------------------end eyecatch----------------------

 Kasumi stared down at the wooden sword in her hands and
wondered why this felt so "right" to her. Also of some
concern were the golden light and chorus from above.

 This wasn't Excalibur at least, THAT much she was sure of.
Nor was it Kusanagi or Stormbringer. As those were the only
magical swords that she'd read about (having a faerie around
had resulted in her recent interest in fantasy literature)
she wondered exactly why someone would enchant a wooden
sword anyway?

 "Come on," Ranma said, gently touching Kasumi's shoulder.
"We need to get going. This area doesn't have much of a time
differential from our world, but we need to avoid spending
more time here than we can."

 "You said it, Ranma!" Shampoo grinned, still the kid in a
candy store who was in the process of selecting the choicest
pieces. "We go back now  to my village. If you go back
to Nerima, your father would only sell you again..."

 "Oh, Shampoo, we can't go back to your village yet." Kasumi
shook her head.

 "Why not?" Shampoo blinked. "Oh...that's right, when we got
to the village you'd get challenged. Of course, you COULD
appoint me as your champion to settle any duels..."

 "Shampoo, regardless of how wonderful your homeland might
be, it would be a final step." Kasumi looked sadly at her
younger sister. "Your people tend to be a little reclusive,
don't they?"

 "Well..."

 "Besides, Shampoo, we can talk about that when we're back
in Japan." Ranma stretched as he walked out of the cave. He
had the most peculiar sensation that he had been watched the
entire time he was in there.
--------------------
 Eyes blinked the sleep of ages away. It was him, she well
knew it. As she had planned the Wheel Of Time had circled
around again and he had been reborn.

 He had entered the cave and had stood before her self-made
prison. Now life began to flow through slender limbs again.

 How long had she been asleep? A thousand years, more
perhaps? It didn't matter. Their love had been cut short
before, and now was the time to renew it. The elven lover of
a human male, she knew that she had to savor every moment
before that fragile flower withered again. Yet this time she
was better prepared, having gone through it once before.

 She prepared to rise from her resting place, only to
realize that the sleep of ages had left her with some
serious muscle cramps.

 Well, she could catch up with them later. (1)
------------------
 Naoko Takeuchi leaned back in her chair and regarded the
young girl facing her. "I'm not sure how much of this to
believe. Why should I trust you?"

 Nabiki smirked and pushed a folder across the table at her.
"I found you. I found out the information in this folder. I
know a vast many things. Even more important, I know Sailor
Amazon and at least one other of these real life Senshi. All
I'm suggesting is a little deal."

 Naoko considered. Having the cooperation of this Sailor
Amazon AND potentially other Senshi would be an incredible
deal. Already she had gotten offers for Sailor Moon's first
season to run in Canada. The Americans were considering it.
MAJOR market share was being promised just from the newsclip
being aired on international television.

 "Besides," Nabiki made a dismissing gesture. "If I can't
produce Sailor Amazon or any other real-life magical girls,
you haven't lost a thing. If I *do*, then you just agree to
my terms. I'm their agent and get the standard deals. My
clients don't want their good names smeared, and I doubt
their lives will be as exciting as you portray- and you get
photos, modeling sessions, and whatever else I can get their
agreement on. They're shy about many things, and very old
school about some things, but I can guarantee at least that
you personally will have the inside scoop."

 "I'm still wondering how you got my pager number," mumbled
the manga artist. She flipped open the folder, took a brief
look, then vowed she'd burn this later. "And what's going on
with these odd appearances? They help out a couple of
mercenaries and a SWAT team in Chicago. They then appear in
Minneapolis and Dallas, show up in Hong Kong ten minutes
after vanishing in Dallas, and in England told a reporter
that some girl was the reincarnated Lady of the Lake who was
looking to give Arthur Excalibur and asked if anyone had
seen him."

 "They'll settle down soon. My sources tell me Osaka is the
most likely location." Nabiki shrugged. Always in motion,
the future.

 "And this other Sailor? What is her name?"

 "Ah, I have yet to obtain permission from her to use her
name. Call her Sailor X for now."
-------------------
 "Well," Ranma started to relax slightly. "The street signs
are in Japanese. That's a good start at least."

 "Places in the Faerie Realm aren't always contiguous with
their Mortal Realm counterparts, give me a break at least
I've gotten the fourth dimensional workings right!"
Featherbrite huffed. "It's not like it's easy moving this
stuff around like this!"

 "Shampoo think you can drop disguise field. We not stand
out at least as badly as we did in Mini Apple Us." Shampoo
nodded.

 "Good, we back in airen's homeland!" Shammi glomped her
husband. "We can leave now, take care of challenges when we
meet next time, yes?"

 "Yeah, Saotome." Ryouga glared at his rival. "It's YOUR
fault I have this curse!"

 "Oh, it's not so bad, Ryouga. So what if you turn into..."

 "It's bad, bad I tell you! That damn pig tried to hit me
with a curse to turn into a pig at night, but with that
apple in his mouth it got all mumbled."

 "Could be worse, airen! Many many worse fates than to turn
into what living creature you next to during full moon.
After all, you sleep with tai tai, then you just turn into
Shammi. Is no big deal!" Shammi smiled, thinking of all
*sorts* of vistas this opened.

 "Curse you, Ranma!" Ryouga couldn't seem to put much venom
in it. Maybe it was the way the girl glomping him seemed to
make his heart want to skip. Nah, that couldn't be it...

 "So where do you think we are?" Ranma looked around.

 "There's the Statue Of Liberty!" Kasumi exclaimed, pointing
to the top of a building.

 "Huh?" Ranma managed after a moment.

 "Osaka," said Ryouga after a moment. "We're in Osaka."(2)
Wait a minute, Shammi was saying that she...nights with a
full moon... they'd be...together?!?!

 "Damn, I always thought the bit with the nosebleeds and
fainting was some sort of etchi humor." Ranma blinked as
Ryouga performed both actions. "Y'know, a metaphor, not that
he'd know a metaphor if it bit him."

 Shampoo flipped through her Japanese-Chinese dictionary.
Metaphors were some kind of bug? That would explain Nabiki's
comment about Ranma's metaphor really bit.

 "Shammi think she have to break airen of this, really,
really quick." A very disappointed Amazon looked down at her
husband. She'd have to work on his stamina if nothing else.

 "Shammi have work cut out for her," Shampoo agreed. "We
settle own challenge after you work out problems with your
airen."

 Slinging her husband over one shoulder, Shammi decided to
go check out the building with the woman on top of it. It
sounded like a good place to start.

 "So, where now, Ranma?" Shampoo pulled out her wallet,
showing him the meager collection of yen and foreign money
they'd collected. "Not have that much."

 Ranma thought for a few minutes. "UCCHAN!"

 "What is Ucchan? Is place to stay?"

 "No, no, my old buddy Ucchan Kuonji. He and his pop used to
run an okonomiyaki stand down near here. I'm sure they'll
let us stay." Ranma nodded, lost in pleasant rememberance of
older happier times.

 Kasumi nodded. "You and Shampoo stay here with the luggage.
I'll take the money and make a few inquiries. Featherbrite?"

 "Yeah, I'll do a 'Find The Path' spell."

 "Like that worked? Remember when it led us right to that
gun shop in Chicago? Remember the little girl with all the
grenades?" (3)

 "Aw, c'mon. I think I got the bugs out of it!"

 Shampoo stuck her head up. More bugs? There must be a lot
of these metaphor things around. Why couldn't she find them
in her dictionary?
====================================
(1)   Actually she gets lost, goes to the wrong universe,
and this ends up being another story. Don't know *when* i'll
get a chance to write a Deedlit+Ranma story. Or if Skysaber
or someone wants to throw another fiancee into their mix...
(or would Pirotess be more fun? It was left deliberately
vague.)

(2) When i was in Kansai, you could see this from the road.
Oddly enough, none of the Japanese i was with would comment
about it. (They started talking really damn quickly, and I
caught the word etchi in the same sentence with Osaka.)
Later i found out that this was a Love Hotel visible from
the freeway. Makes for a decent landmark. At least i don't
know of any other buildings with a Statue Of Liberty up top.
      And yes, it is possible to tell when a Japanese girl
is blushing. No they do NOT giant sweatdrop in real life. If
it were possible, she'd have done so.

(3) Gunsmith Cats reference. Not even a cameo. Also
references that faerie magic isn't necessarily that
reliable.

---------Faerie Realm-----------------------------
 "How dare they treat Greaket, Master of Pigs, like that! I,
Sakshel, will avenge you!"

 "Thank you, Sakshel, thank you. I'll regenerate in a few
days, but if you want to catch them you'd better hurry.
HEY!"

 Sakshel raised his stinger. "But you see, Greaket, if you
don't survive, then I can advance from the tenth level to
the ninth. You understand how it is among the Unseelie
Court. Besides, I hear pork tastes just like human."
------------------------------------------------------
 Holly dusted her hands off, grinning at the thought of
tonight's session with her changeling. Yes, tonight was
going to be really special. She'd gotten the book of spells
to that would-be mage, the divination materials to that girl
Nabiki, and had made sure that Tate-chan had let his ninjas
off tonight. In return for helping Nabiki, Holly had gotten
another stack of these "manga" things.

 These "manga" things were illustrated handbooks to the
Mortal World. Fascinating, and worth quite a bit to a large
number of bored faerie. Holly had become much more popular
as a result of trading the handbooks around!

 Phasing into one of her own trees, she emerged on the Kuno
estate to a bright spring day.

 "WHAT?! Who are you, and how dare you trespass on the Kuno
ancestral grounds?"

 Holly blinked and looked at the odd girl. She was
wearing..."OH! You must be one of those Sailor Senshi!"

 Kodachi blinked and noted that she was still wearing her
Saint Hebereke school uniform. "And you would have to be at
least slightly deranged, I think."

 "It's OK, I'm Tate-chan's friend." Holly smiled. Wow, she
was really going places now. Not only had she met a real
mortal, adopted him as her changeling, and now she'd met a
Sailor Senshi! How neat.

 "Tate-chan?" Kodachi considered facefaulting but preferred
to keep her dignity intact for the moment.

 "Yeah," Holly's smile vanished as a ribbon shot out at her.
Holly parried by asking the nearest tree to block. Obviously
the Dark Kingdom had brainwashed this Senshi.

 "You! You're the reason my brother has been acting like
this! You! You!" Kodachi was at a loss for things to say.

 "Why, yes, I am. Don't worry, Senshi-san, we'll get you
back to normal soon." Holly was nice and asked the tree to
hold onto the odd girl until she'd gotten finished with
Tate-chan's session for the day. Then Holly could see about
fixing whatever odd spell the Senshi had been put under.
This would be fun!

 Skipping lightly past the deathtraps, the green-haired
dryad went looking for her Tate-chan.
-------------Osaka,
Japan-----------------------------------------
 Kasumi sat down at the counter and looked over the nice
place. A tiny magazine rack near the front door had a set of
catalogs for a local college, which had been enough to
entice
Kasumi to sit down briefly and order a hot tea.

 "Thinkin' of going to the local college?" The girl behind
the counter slipped the tea over. "There's some good 'uns.
Osaka Kyouiku University isn't bad, but it's really pricey.
Y'might wanna try Korobu Community College if ya aren't that
well-heeled."

 "Oh, is it a good college?" Kasumi sipped at the tea, a
nice local green tea she decided after a moment.

 "Yeah, well, a little strange at times, I hear. We get a
lotta the students in here."

 "Ah," Kasumi nodded. She looked over the young woman with a
slight smile. "Actually I'm looking for a boy said to be
living in this area. I figured that since you make
okonomiyaki
as well, you might know of him."

 Unseen and unheard by the cafe owner, Featherbrite grumbled
about her "Find The Path" had led right to this girl and she
was SURE she had all the problems fixed this time!

 "Oh? Maybe. What's his name?"

 "Ucchan. Ucchan Kuonji." Kasumi paused before sipping on
her tea.

 The girl looked quite puzzled. "I'm Ukyou Kuonji, but
nobody's called me Ucchan in years. Not since, well, since
that crook stole my father's cart."

 "Ah." Kasumi shrugged. "That doesn't sound at all right. A
friend of mine mentioned that he had a friend from his
childhood in the area, named Ucchan Kuonji, who might be
able to help us. I can picture his father doing something
that unwise, but certainly not him."

 Ukyou looked suspiciously at the young woman sipping tea
calmly in front of her. "What was your friend's name? I must
have missed it the first time."

 "Oh, I can't say that." Kasumi shook her head. This girl
seemed too nice to get involved in their troubles.

 "Damn, is she reacting to my presence?" The faerie looked
over the girl in blue and white. "Crap, well at least THIS
time it's soon enough I can do something about it. I still
feel bad about not being able to do something to your little
sister, but you humans have the weirdest hangups."

 "Oh," Ukyou began fixing an okonomiyaki. "Why can't you
mention it?"

 "I..." Kasumi's eyes flicked over at something the chef
couldn't see.

 "Got it," Featherbrite nodded and flitted over to rest on
the top of the chef's head. "I've masked my presence more
and put a tranquilizer effect in. Oh, by the way, this is
the Ucchan Ranma was looking for."

 "But," Kasumi paused. "Ranma is SURE that his old friend
Ucchan is a boy."

 "RANMA!" Ukyou frowned. Why wasn't she angrier? "Wait a
minute. He's sure I'm a BOY?"

 "Yup," said Featherbrite. "He mentioned his old buddy
enough to me back when we met. It was right after he'd left
his buddy Ucchan and Ranma was still pretty broken up about
it all."

 Kasumi blinked and repeated it for Ukyou's benefit,
changing it to something that she had heard herself rather
than try to explain invisible faeries and the like.

 "Well, we're not exactly busy right now." Ukyou weighed her
options and hefted her spatula. "Show me where Ranma is so I
can see for myself." Ukyou silently added that she was gonna
flatten the crook as soon as she found him. Ten years of
vengeance would not be denied!
--------------------------------------------
 "Isao, we have wasted enough time and resources on this
quest of yours." The oyabun was disappointed. The chunin
fled.

 "I understand. We have their phone tapped and the house
monitored. It is inevitable that at least the eldest sister
will contact the boy's fiancee, when she does we shall have
them."

 "Why are there no transmitters in the house itself?" The
Yakuza leader didn't think it was like Isao to miss such an
obvious step.

 "We have placed them on three occasions. Each time they
mysteriously fail to operate shortly after four in the
afternoon."

 "And Agent Sakura Jama?" It was expensive having to use the
Specialists for such mundane duties.

 "She has reminded Genma of the agreement, and that the
money is expected to be returned with the additional markup
as we do not have the boy in custody." Isao shrugged. He
expected that the Oyabun would have a pandaskin rug quite
shortly.

 "See that he does," the Oyabun started stroking the white
cat in his lap. He'd seen this in a James Bond movie once
and had thought it wonderfully cliche. Of course, he had to
keep replacing the cats after the inevitable clash over who
the master was arose. Like Isao, he also thought he would
have a pandaskin rug made soon. Probably send it to that
annoying group of wildlife lobbyists that kept sending him
those damn flyers.

 "I thank you for your help so far, and when I have further
leads regarding the boy I shall contact you with all haste."

 "See that you do," the Oyabun smiled. He wondered how panda
steaks, broiled over mesquite
might taste. Mmmmmm.
--------------------------------------------
 Genma sneezed, shivered as something cold and with a lotta
legs crawled up his spine, and had a sort of religious
experience. Or it might have been Akane's potroast a la
Antoine. Whatever the case, he felt a strong need to go out
and find his wayward son.

 Soun Tendo threw a dart at a map of Tokyo and decided THAT
was where they'd start looking.
--------------------------------------------
 "Something's coming." Ranma started looking around.
"Something nasty is coming."

 "Shampoo feel it too." Shampoo went over to her
"collection" and started going through it. "Hmmm. Shampoo in
Japan, so should use Japanese weapon, yes? Manriki-gusari?
No. No-dachi? No. Rice flail? Why the heck did Shampoo grab
that? Oh yeah, give as present to Akane. Make nice-nice.
Gold dagger? Oh yeah, that one for Nabiki. Maybe bribe her
to leave husband alone. Hmmm."

 Ranma noticed a ripple in midair. "Shampoo, you better make
your choice and get away from the luggage. There's something
coming through the weak point between here and Faerie."

 "Shampoo choose. Naginata is traditional weapon of Japonese
womans, yes? Is very similar to Korean horse spear in way is
used." Shampoo spun the weapon around a few times, getting
used to the feel of it.

 "Why did you take all those anyway? You're pretty good
without weapons."

 Shampoo's grin was electric. Airen appreciated her! Airen
give her compliment! She'd wait till after the fight. THEN
she'd glomp him. "Ancient Chinese Amazon wisdom. Have many
weapons. Rely on none."

 "A scorpion?" Ranma blinked at the shape forming in front
of them. "A twenty foot long scorpion with a lizard's head.
Let me guess, you're of the Unseelie Court?"

 "I am Sakshel of the Tenth Circle!"

 "Hmmm. Maybe should use bow or kusarigama."

 Ranma dodged a grabbing manuever by a foreclaw. "C'mon,
ugly. You'll never make Ninth Circle if you're that clumsy."

 "Foolish mortals to challenge the Unseelie! I will OUCH!"

 Shampoo looked at her handiwork and tsked. "How could
Shampoo miss mouth when it open that much?"

 "Moving target," remarked Ranma, backflipping out of the
way of another clawstrike.

 Sakshel's tongue probed forward and removed the naginata
from its nostril, staring in horror at the purplish ichor
coating the sharp end of the stick. "Blood? You dare to draw
blood from Sakshel of the..."

 "Got it that time," Shampoo said brightly, aiming another
arrow.

 "Right through the tongue," Ranma said, flipping on top of
one claw then back around to the side. "Good shot!"

 Sakshel was beginning to realize that these weren't the
sort of mortals you picked off with impunity to become
statistics on some missing persons report. Time for the
heavy stuff. Jaws slammed shut, driving the arrow through
the lower jaw but now the tongue was free. Necessary when
you needed to name your attacks. "Protection From Normal
Missles."

 Ranma didn't miss the flare of magic. "Shampoo, watch out,
he's a spellcaster."

 Shampoo watched as her next arrow stopped before hitting
the target. "Can see. Good. Would be too easy fight
otherwise."

 Sakshel blinked yellow eyes and would have sweated if he
had pores. "Flame Arrow."
------------------------
 Featherbrite was apparently half-asleep and resting on the
chef's head. She was actually engaged in a eons-old
tradition, something that was almost an instinctual behavior
for all members of Faerie.

 She was meddling, of course.

 Mind control was evil by human morality, but then again,
Featherbrite wasn't human. After centuries of learning about
the human species, she would be among the first to admit
that she didn't understand them one bit.

 In the 19th Century she'd run into an odd practice called
the "7% Solution" where a very LARGE number of humans (who
would have screamed bloody murder at a little faerie mind
manipulation) purposely injected chemicals into their
bloodstreams that had a large number of not entirely
controlled effects. Much less safe and not nearly as
effective as faerie magic.

 In a truly strange era known as the Sixties, Featherbrite
had been in a peculiar land known as America. Having heard
repeatedly from some people that mind control was so
terribly evil, but that many of those same people were in
the process of controlling other people's minds through the
uses of these same chemicals, had merely proven to the wind
faery that humans would forever remain an enigma.

 Then had come a bizarre thing she'd noted at a strange
event called a "Woodstock" for reasons that continued to
escape the faerie years later. (Actually she had noted a LOT
of bizarre things at that human gathering.) While some of it
had struck her as absolutely silly, every so often someone
would do something that struck her as insightful. One of
those powerful insights was that one should "make love, not
war."

 So, sitting on the head of a certain okonomiyaki chef, a
wind faery continued to nudge a few memories to the surface.
A little shove here so that she remembered the times when
they shared a pleasant moment munching okonomiyaki in the
park. A tiny push there to remember that she HAD been
dressing pretty boyishly at the time. A little shove here to
indicate that just maybe Ranma hadn't actually known what he
was doing.

 If she could get the girl to do exactly as that human had
been suggesting, Featherbrite would feel much better about
her friend Ranma's chances of making it to adulthood.
----------------------
 A powerful spell had been cast. Ripples went through the
flows of manna as the spell concluded.

 Those who knew of such things could determine roughly where
and most likely what, especially as the power had built up
for roughly five minutes then continued on at that level for
a half hour before finally dissipating.

 Nabiki Tendo, doing her divination exercises and checking
for any more of those more conventional eavesdropping
devices, noted the echoes of the disturbance and
investigated further.

 This was made more difficult by her inexperience with such
things, as she had to research each step before determining
what had happened. It was quite late before she had the
basics down, but her curiosity had been  piqued.

 The Book made it easier than it might have been, after all,
it was curious itself.(1)

 "A Reweave?" Nabiki murmurred to herself. A powerful spell,
similar to a Wish, which actually remade reality on a local
level. Reweaving the threads of fate for a different
pattern. Someone had cast a Reweave on himself, likely
burning out his magical potential in the process.

 If you'd changed your own past, would you know about it? If
you'd altered reality, would anyone else notice? In this
case, no and yes. Whoever had cast the spell had started out
fine but had lost control near the end.

 Why someone would do such a thing when they wouldn't even
remember doing it was one of a whole set of questions that
Nabiki wasn't sure she wanted the answers to.

 Having found enough of the answers to satisfy her initial
curiosity, and tired from casting the divinations and a
Glamour Versus Eavesdropping, Nabiki's eye fell upon her
still open ledger.(2)

 Very deliberately, she reached out and closed the cover. It
had taken too many hours for all this, and she was too tired
to make those decisions. Besides, she had a lot of work for
tomorrow.

	Tomorrow. Tomorrow sounded good.
=======================
(1)	No, this is not the Necronomicon. AL:LN. It's a book of
divinations and protection magic, after all.

(2)	Anybody who's ever RPGed can see the uses for this spell
immediately.

-----------------------------------------
http://metroanime.home.mindspring.com/
"This is it," Nabiki said with a smile. Forget money,
THIS was power! "Rebel Squadron, Xwings
LAUNCH. Black Tiger Squadron, LAUNCH all
Veritechs; Bird Of Prey and Arcadia II- link your
fire control to ours on channels 4 & 7. Yamato
... HASSHIN!"                 -Nabiki Tendo, A
                                         Very Scary Bet

ja ne,
gregg