Continued from the previous part...

...

    It was an overcast autumn midday when a swirling purple vortex
opened above Jusenkyo valley...

    "Yaaaaaaaah!" a very young, pink-haired girl in a white and
blue sailor fuku yelled as she fell from the vortex... directly
onto the Jusenkyo Guide's head, the sudden impact pusing him to
the ground. "Hiya hiya, Myster Myan!" she bubbled cutely.

    The Guide was slow in his recovery from the sudden assault.
"Ahh... ow..." He held his head and attempted to stand, but
slumped onto his back from the weight of the girl.

    The girl hopped off of him and started wandering around.
"Gee," she said, "this doesn't look like Juuban..."

    The Guide sat up and gave a pained look at her. "Welcome,"
he said in Japanese, "to cursed training ground of Jusenkyo."

    "Jusinko?" the girl giggled. "I've never heard of that
place... Why's it cursed?"

    The Guide took a deep breath and stood, preparing to give
his standard tour description. "There are a thousand springs in
Jusenkyo, and each have its own tragic story-"

    "Tragic story?" the little girl asked, pouting. "That doesn't
sound very good..." She smiled. "I like stories about horsies and
butterflies and..." She stopped as she looked at her reflection in
one of the springs. "Tee-hee! I look funny!"

    The Jusenkyo Guide frowned. "Ah, yes, well, do not get too
close, young lady. If you fall in, you get cursed."

    "Call me Small Lady," the girl said, "not young lady."

    "Well... Small Lady, if you will..." the guide trailed off
as the girl jumped onto his back.

    "I wanna horsie ride!" she exclaimed, tugging at the man's
shirt. "C'mon!"

    The Guide raised an eyebrow. "Ah... Small... whoever you are,
I do not have the time to-"

    "Pleeeeeeeeeease?" the girl whined.

    The man winced. "Well, perhaps, if-"

    The girl hopped off him in a huff. "Fine. If you aren't
gonna do it, I don't wanna talk to you." She folded her arms,
closed her eyes, and started walking away. "Hmph!"

    The guide frowned for a moment, then held out a hand toward
her. "Please wait."

    The girl turned around, still pouting. "I'm not gonna talk to
you, you mean old man..."

    The Jusenkyo Guide sighed. "I could give you a tour..."

    The 'rabbit-eared' child instantly brightened. "A tour for
me? Waaaaai!" She ran up and jumped onto the guide's back. "Let's
gooo!"

    Deciding to take it all in stride, the man bore the girl to
one of the more scenic areas of the Cursed Training Ground.

    Not without inconvenience, however...

    "What's that one?" the girl asked, pointing to one of the
pools.

    "That," the guide replied sagely, "is Spring of Drowned
Panda. Very tragic story of-"

    "Oooh, what's THAT one?!" the girl bubbled, pointing at
another spring.

    "That is Spring of Drowned Girl-"

    "And that one?"

    "Spring of Drowned Yeti Riding Bull Carrying Crane and Eating
Eel. Very tragic-"

    "And that one?!"

    "Spring of Drowned Second Cousin. Very-"

    "Oh, cool! What's that one?!"

    "Spring of Drowned Battlefortress Pop Singer-"

    "And that one?"

    "Spring of Drowned H-Bomb. Very tragic story of nuclear
physicist who-"

    "How 'bout that one?"

    "Spring of Drowned Robotic Demon God-"

    "And that one over there?"

    "Spring of Drowned... Duck."

    "Noooo, that one way over there!"

    "Spring of Drowned Magical Pegasus. Very tragic story of-"

    The girl's eyes widened. "Magical Pegasus?" She giggled.
"And what happens if someone falls in?"

    "They become cursed to turn into whatever drowned-"

    The pink-haired girl leaned over the top of the guide's
head to look into his eyes. "I wanna see the ponies!"

    The man blinked. "Ponies...? This is a-"

    "I _wanna_ see the ponies!"

    "Ah, little girl, there are no ponies-"

    "You could jump into the Magical Pegasus thingy and turn
into one and we could fly off and-"

    The guide's shoulders slumped as he tilted his head back,
rolled his eyes, and groaned. "No... I do not think so."

    "Pleeeease?" the girl asked. "I'd like to see a magical
pegasus..."

    "No."

    "PRETTY please???"

    The guide sighed and looked back at her. "Would you...
maybe... rather see the rest of Jusenkyo?"

    The girl frowned. "I'd rather have a pegasus, but..." She
smiled. "Okay!" She looked around, then gasped and pointed to
another of the springs. "What's that one!?!?"


    For the next five hours, the guide patiently endured the girl's
endless, tireless, interrupting and overlapping questions about the
names of the springs, not letting him get much of a word in edgewise.

    She had resisted three forced removal attempts, always
managing to cling to the guide in one fashion or another, and
he couldn't bring himself to try to knock her off, no matter how
troublesome she got.

    Sooner or later, though, the subject returned to a certain
spring...

    "So when you gonna turn into a pegasus for me?" the
'rabbit-eared' girl pressed. "I wanna see a magical pegasus!!!"

    The guide shook his head. "I told you: No."

    "But I wanna see it! I wannawannawannawannawanna..." The
pink-haired child paused. "Hey, how did these things get cursed?"

    The man gritted his teeth, preparing to explain the tale
behind the springs... one more time. "For thousands of years,
creatures have drowned in-"

    "How'd they do that?"

    "They do it by... well, falling in and-"

    "How?"

    "Sometimes, they slip-"

    "How?" the girl giggled infuriatingly.

    The guide stopped and let his arms drop. He looked back at
the girl and smiled, a little too pleasantly. "Here, let me show
you..."

~Two seconds later...~

    The little girl coughed and struggled in vain to escape
her watery prison. The spring was too deep for her to swim in,
and she couldn't reach the edge from her position.

    She was unable to call for help as she consistantly failed
to bring her head above the eerily silent water. Again and again she
splashed wildly, almost, but not quite managing to reach the edge of
the spring.

    Finally, she went down for the last time...

    ...and was pulled out on the end of a silver, almost key-shaped
staff by a tall, green-haired woman in a white and black-highlighted
abbreviated sailor suit.

    The girl coughed out the water as she was set back onto the
ground. She looked up at the woman. "Thank you, Puu..."

    The woman shook her head. "Small Lady, how many times have I
told you that the time key is not a toy?"

    The pink-haired girl looked up at her and smiled weakly.
"Um... I'm sorry."

    "That's a start," the green-haired woman said, "but it's time
to go home now."

    The girl nodded. "I'm sorry," she said meekly. "I just... I
only wanted to..." She sighed and shook her head. "I don't know..."

    The woman picked her up into her arms, resting the child's
head on her shoulder. "I understand, Small Lady... I understand."

    They both vanished quetly.

...

    Jos� shook his head. "Very tragic story..."

    The boy raised an eyebrow. "That was about as tragic as the
last one!"

    The guide shook his head. "No, this _very_ tragic story..." He
sniffed sadly, dabbing a tear from his eye as he looked at the boy's
transformed father. "She not drown in spring!"

    The young man blinked, glanced at the girl next to him, then
broke out laughing.

    The little girl frowned for a moment, then glared at them.
"Hey!"

^_^

    Haruka grinned at Genma. "Whoa, that's harsh..."

    "And," Setsuna continued, motioning her sister for silence,
"he explained your curse's qualities to you." She looked at Ranma.
"You did not take well the fact that the change would return with
cold water."

    Rei looked rather perplexed, still hung up on one particular
concept. "The guide's name... was Jos�?" She raised a confused
eyebrow. "Those Chinese sure have strange names..."

    "You're telling _me_," Ranma said. "And that's before we got
to this... weird Amazon village where everyone's name was like-"

    Haruka looked interested. "Amazon village, huh? Going to
tell us about _that_ one?"

    The pigtailed blonde sighed. "Alright, after we got everything
straightened out at Jusenkyo, on the way back to Japan, we visited
this place... They called it... Joketsuzuki... or something like
that. So anyway, we walk in, and I start watching some of the
Amazons fight, to see if I can master any of their techniques..."
She looked at Genma. "So then the _SPORE_ here sits down and eats
the prize for the tournament they were having!"

    "The sign read 'Free Food!'" the little pink-haired girl
snapped.

    "Oh, really?! I could've sworn the sign read 'Don't eat,
or else!' Gimme a break! And if it weren't for your terminal
stupidity, neither of us would've gone to that training ground
and got cursed, so then you've been there to get _your_ tail
kicked by that Amazon, instead of playing stupid and making
_me_ fight her off-"

    "Oh, she enjoyed the fight!" Genma retorted. "Why else would
she kiss you like that?!"

    "Huh. And it just _had_ to be after a rainstorm." Ranma
sighed. "I mean, why would an Amazon kiss another _girl_?!"

    "I can think of a reason," Haruka noted with a grin.

    "We know what _you_ think, Haruka," Rei said, rolling her
eyes as she turned toward Ranma. "So... How long ago did you
get cursed?"

    "Uh... A couple months ago," Ranma replied.

    Rei shook her head, deep in thought. "I know of some _strange_
curses, but _this_ has to be the worst."

    The girl in the flowing gown nodded. "Yeah... It doesn't
just turn me into a _girl_, it puts me in a *DRESS*." She rubbed
the gold crescent moon mark on her forehead. "Stupid magic..."

    Rei looked at her. "What's so bad about being in a dress
when you're a girl?" She gave a bemused, weirded-out half-smile.
"Look at it this way: You'll never have to worry about being
called a tomboy wearing that."

    Haruka nodded emphatically. "And it looks _terrific_ on you."

    Ranma cringed visibly. She turned to glare at the pink-haired
girl. "This is all your fault, Pop. If you hadn't been so stupid,
we wouldn't have gone to Jusenkyo and-"

    Setsuna held up a hand. "Actually," she began.

    Ranma looked at her. "What?"

    "If your father had not taken you there," the green-haired
woman continued, "and if you discovered its existence, as a
legendary training ground, before leaving China, you would have
_demanded_ to go."

    The pigtailed blonde blinked. "No, I wouldn't! I'm not _that_-"

    Genma blew a long rasberry at her. "Biiii!"

    Ranma gritted her teeth. "Oh, now you're gonna get it, you
little fungus!" She dove at the little girl, a mini-brawl ensuing.

    *BAM!*SMASH*SLAM!*

    "STOP IT, YOU TWO!" Rei yelled at the duo of princesses,
shoving them apart. "You're acting like a bunch of squabbling brats!"

    Ranma and Genma turned their backs to eachother, their arms
folded. "We are not!" they shouted in unison, then glared back at one
another, sparks forming between them. Suddenly, they faced each other
fully.

    "I think it's 'bout time the brat here got _disciplined_!"
Ranma said through gritted teeth.

    "I'm gonna teach you some respect, PRINCESS!" Genma replied.

    "Haruka," Setsuna whispered to her sister, "please meow in
Ranma's ear."

    The tall blonde blinked. "Uh, why?"

    "Humor me."

    "You got it," Haruka said, then skulked in close to Ranma,
and whispered softly to her, "Meow."

    "AAAH!" Ranma screamed, jumping up and clinging to the top of
the doorframe. She looked around frantically, hyperventalating. After
a moment, she calmed down and glared at Haruka. "DON'T do that!"

    Rei looked at Haruka with a raised eyebrow. "What...?"

    Setsuna spoke up. "It is the result of another technique Genma
has trained his son in: One which he would never admit willingness to
train in if he were asked now." She shook her head. "Unfortunately,
he is, in many ways, just as focused as his father when it comes to
mastery of the Art."

    "Uhh," Ranma began, "I'm not... quite sure how to take that."

    "A compliment if looked at one way," Setsuna replied, "but
a cruel insult if looked at in another. It truly depends on whether
you wish a critique of your intelligence or of your determination."

    Ranma blinked, not getting a word of the response. "Ummmm..."

    "She says you're both stubborn idiots," Haruka translated
without inflection.

    The pink-haired girl's 'rabbit-ears' pricked up slightly at
that. She and the pigtailed blonde glared at Haruka.

    "Don't look at _me_," Haruka chuckled. She turned to her older
sister. "And you guessed _all_ that from just this conversation?"

    Setsuna smiled, her head moving slightly so as to just barely
hint at shaking it. "Believe what you must..."

    The short-haired blonde didn't buy it. "Riiight."

    Soun, who had passed out somewhere in the middle of the
retelling of the very tragic story of the Spring of Drowned Moon
Princess, now awoke and sat up. "Ah, everyone is here," he said
quietly as he took a quick glance around.

    Setsuna took a seat on the guest bed near him. "We are
glad that you are again awake, Father," she half-whispered to him.

    The black-haired man nodded as everyone present turned to
look at him. "Yes! We must finalize the details of the engagement!"

    "To business, then!" Genma exclaimed, hopping into a seated
position on his shoulders.

    Ranma paled in remembrance. "...You aren't actually going to
go through with that, are you?!"

    Soun and Genma nodded at him in unison.

    Haruka held up a hand. "Nononononono... I don't think so."

    "They, apparently, 'think so,'" Setsuna noted, taking a quick
sip from a recently prepared cup of tea.

    Rei looked at her father. "You... want to marry us off to...
a boy that turns into a girl?" She glanced at Ranma. "That's kinda
creepy, you know..."

    "You get used to it," Genma said.

    "Only 'cause you're too lazy to change back most of the time,
you little _spore_," Ranma added.

    "Nonsense!" the pink-haired girl snapped. "You should be
prepared to give up _anything_ for the Art!" She sat up proudly.
"To advance my training, I have given up-"

    "Your dignity, your manhood, your adulthood," Setsuna said,
"and your sanity, on occasion."

    Genma blinked. "Uh, right, but..."

    Ranma smirked.

    Soun smiled, keeping balance with the added weight of the girl
on his shoulders. "Ranma, stop arguing with your spore... er, father.
This is more important than that. For you, the time has come..." He
held an open arm out toward the only "real" girls in the room. "These
are my daughters: Setsuna, who is nineteen years old. Haruka is
eighteen. And Rei, my youngest, is sixteen."

    There was a long, deep silence as what was just said caught up
with the blonde princess.

    "Oh, I believe he truly wants Haruka," Setsuna noted, smiling
as she once more took her teacup off its conveniently-placed saucer.

    Rei frowned momentarily, then grinned. "Hey, yeah..."

    Haruka's eyes widened. She held her hands up and backed off.
"Ooooh no you don't."

    Rei looked up at her. "You don't like... Well, you know...
boys. You're perfect for eachother. He's a girl!"

    Ranma looked incredulously between her transformed father and
the Tendo patriarch, pausing only to cringe at the conversation going
on with the other two girls. "I'm NOT going to go and pick someone
that I don't even know to get married!"

    Haruka glanced at him. "You got THAT right!"

    Soun sat up proudly. "You misunderstand. The agreement is very
specific on this."

    Setsuna watched with trepidation.

    Haruka relaxed.

    Rei tensed. "Er... Who was supposed to be getting engaged,
then?"

    Genma jumped up on the bed, her pink 'rabbit-ears' bouncing
up and down cutely. "ALL of you!" she exclaimed with joy.

    The room grew silent, save for the stifled, yet agonized sounds
of Setsuna choking on her tea.

    "ALL OF US!?!??!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?"
Soun's three daughters shouted at once.

    Soun nodded.

    "ALL OF THEM!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!" Ranma asked in shock.

    Soun nodded again.

    The blonde girl fainted.

...

    Somewhere, a black-haired young man looked around, agitated.

    "I hate that feeling..." he muttered. "It's like... like...
someone just got MY harem..."

    The voluptuous, scantily clad oni lying next to him smiled.
"You and that dream of yours again, darling?"

...

    Setsuna was the first one to recover. "Ah," she coughed, "em,
very interesting, Father." Her left eye twitched slightly, but the
rest of her expression remained firmly in control. "I will retrieve
the documentation." She stood and walked out of the guest room, her
feet making a slightly louder noise against the floor than they
normally would.

    Haruka stared agape at her father and Genma. "W...wha...?"
She straightened. "What have you been smoking, and WHERE can I get
some?!"

    Rei just sat there, looking at Soun. She tilted her head
toward Haruka. "Think he's serious?"

    Haruka nodded. "Look at them... They've got that... gleam
in their eye."

    "_That_ gleam?" Rei asked.

    "_That_ gleam," Haruka confirmed.

    The raven-haired girl grimaced. "Terrific..."

    Setsuna walked in, carrying an ancient, yet preserved scroll.
"I have the marriage contract, Father. This must be sorted out
before any arrangement is to be announced." She took a seat next
to Soun and unfurled the scroll. "You see, the penmanship is poor,
but the words can easily be made out."

    Soun nodded, taking the paper in his hands. "Ah, yes... If
I, Tendo Soun, had any daughters," he read, "they'd be engaged to
Saotome Genma's son."

    "That is an error," Setsuna noted. "It was obviously intended
to read 'Saotome Genma's sons.' This implies the fact that if Genma
had two sons, they would each be engaged to different daughters. As
it stands, he has only one son, so it should be to only one Tendo
daughter."

    "That's not what it says, though," Genma noted.

    "But the _intention_-" Setsuna began before being cut off.

    "My friend is right," Soun said, "It _clearly_ states for
all of my daughters to be engaged to his son."

    "Isn't that kind of... illegal?" Rei asked.

    Both Genma and Soun began to grin very broadly. "Nope," the
little girl said, "we're all moving to Brunei!"

    "It's perfectly legal there," Soun added.

    "We are not moving," Setsuna said firmly, her eyes narrowed
at him.

    "But we have to to get you three married, Setsuna," Soun said.

    "Let me see that," Rei said, snatching the scroll. Upon
reading through it, her eyes grew very wide. "GREAT GRANDPA
SIGNED THIS!??!"

    Haruka took the contract and examined it. "And who are
all these other people? There has to be... at least thirty
names on this thing!"

    "Yes," their father said with a smile, "this has all been
planned far in advance. Four generations of the Tendo and Saotome
clans have endorsed this union, providing their signature as a
testament... It is your DESTINY!"

    Haruka glared down at him. "Hmph!" She threw the contract
down at Soun, then turned and stormed out, slamming the door behind
her.

    "Uh oh," Genma whispered.

    "That's alright," Soun quietly said to her. He turned back
to the remaining people in the room. "In just a few minutes, the
priest from Rei's temple, the Nerima Shrine, will be here to go
with us to Brunei, to have you all married. I'm sure Haruka will
have calmed down when its time for the plane to leave."

    There was a knock at the front door, followed quickly by
the sound of its opening.

    "Ah, Haruka, is it?" an unfamiliar voice said. "I'm here to-"

    "SEJOU DOUTEN!!!"

    "Hey, that looks like... WAAAH!!!"

    *BLAAAAAAAM!!!!!!!!*

    This was followed by several heavy footsteps outside, the
sound of the garage door opening, and finally of a motorcycle
revving up and speeding off.

    Both Soun and Genma winced.

    After a moment of consideration, Soun made a decision.
"Perhaps we should hold off on the trip to Brunei for now."

    Setsuna nodded. "That would be best."

    "Awww," Genma whined, looking downtrodden.

    "What's the point of all this?" Rei asked, raising an eyebrow.
"And how did you get so many signatures on that stupid contract of
yours?!"

    "Well..." Soun began, recalling some of his more distant
memories.

...

    It was the Tendo Family Reunion... which took place right
next to the Saotome Family Reuinion...

    Giggling maniacally, a six-year-old Genma handed off a small
sheet of paper to Soun.

    Soun smiled and nodded, walking over to an old man on his side
of the large park in which the reunions were taking place.

    "Good morning, Soun," the aging individual said, relaxing
in his lawn chair.

    "Hi, Grampa," the black-haired boy said. He handed the paper
he was carrying to the elder individual. "Could you please sign
this?"

    Tendo-sama looked over the scribblings on the sheet of
thick construction paper and smiled. "Playing games with your
friend, eh?" His expression took a mock-serious tone. "I don't
know..."

    "Pleeeease?"

    "Well... Alright."

    Soun's grandfather signed at the bottom of the paper, right
next to John Hancock, John Quincy Adams, John Guiterrez, and
Pope John Pauls I, II, and III.

    Lather, rinse, repeat.

...

    "It, er," Soun said, tripping over his words, and most
definitely not having told them _anything_ of what he just
remembered, "was a plan set in motion by forces beyond our
control."

    "Yeah, that's it," the pink-haired girl on his shoulders
said, nodding.

    Rei just sat there, an eyebrow raised, her mouth hanging open,
and her eyes disbelieving.

    "In any case," Soun continued, "I believe it has been decided
to postpone the event, so you can all get to know Ranma better."

    "Father," the raven-haired girl began, glancing at the
sleeping princess, "please tell me this is all one huge joke."

    "This ain't a joke," Genma said. "We've been working
toward this for a _long_ time."

    Setsuna looked at Genma. "You should leave... and perhaps
come back tomorrow, or the day after, to allow for all involved to
become accustomed to the idea. Especially Haruka."

    "Nope," Genma said, folding her arms, "we're staying right
here. We've been on the road a lot, and-"

    "And you don't have a house," Soun cut in. "Right, of course.
You can stay here, in the guest room." He smiled. "You're guests,
after all."

    The little girl nodded brightly. "Haaai."

    Soun stood, taking Genma off his shoulders and placing her
on one of the beds. "Now, what else is there to discuss..."

    *Beep-beep!* No one knew whose, but someone's digital watch
sounded a quick alarm, noting the change to a new hour.

    "Hmm," the black-haired man mumbled, and glanced at the
clock on the wall. He then looked outside... at the night sky.
"Ten 'o clock already... Where _does_ the time go?" He looked
down at Genma. "Oh, it must be bedtime for you, then..." He
pulled back the covers on the bed and tucked Genma in. "Good
night!"

    Genma watched bemusedly as Soun left, followed soon after
by Setsuna and Rei.

    As she left, Rei glanced back at both of them, frowned
thoughtfully, and switched off the lights, closing the door
behind her.

    "I don't get it," Genma muttered, pausing to think as
she found the bed surprisingly large and comfortable, especially as
compared to the ground and other variants thereof, such as the
ground with a thin mat, the ground with a thick mat, and the
ground with a side order of beef.

    So, the little, pink-haired girl snuggled into her pillow,
deciding that getting a little more sleep wouldn't hurt...

    Then she saw... IT.

    IT was a tall, black-clad figure standing in front of
what little light poured in through the window, its dark cloak
waving in the breeze, watching and looking at her, glorying in
her fear...

    Genma blinked, taking another look at IT.

    IT was just the curtains moving in the draft from the
slightly open window.

    "Oh," Genma whispered, then turned away...

    And came face to face with... THAT.

    THAT was a hulking beast with twin tusks that extended
through its snout, horns topping its head...

    But it wasn't moving: It was a coat rack.

    "Mmmmm," Genma hummed in slight worry, frightening images
assaulting her from every direction.

    Hurrying, she threw back the covers and dove into the bed
Ranma was sleeping in. Cowering under the blankets for a second,
but feeling the comforting warmth of another person, she slowly
calmed down.

    And finally, with an arm around the pigtailed girl next to
her, Genma fell asleep.

^_^

    The blonde girl floated through a misty, cloudy landscape,
the occasional prismatic bubble floating by as a stream of
reflective, sparkling stardust trailed behind her.

    Her pigtails flew behind her in the air currents, and her
white gown fluttered in the breeze.

    After several blissful moments of this, she approached
a black-clad figure.

    The man turned around. He was tall, wearing a formal black
tuxedo with a top hat and a cape with an inner red lining. His
eyes and part of his face were covered by a white mask.

    {Hello...} the man greeted in an ethereal tone.

    "Hello," the girl replied, smiling at him, "My Prince..."

    {Yes...} the man whispered.

    "Um," the girl began demurely, looking shyly at him, "are...
are you my lover?"

    {Yes...}

    The blonde jumped up and down in joy for several seconds
before preparing to ask another question. "My Prince... Can you
show me who you are?"

    {Yes... I want there to be no secrets between us...} the
tuxedo-clad figure began, removing the mask from his eyes.

    As the mask was cast aside, the girl could not quite make
out any features, but could tell that he was _very_ handsome...

^_^

    Ranma awoke softly. "Oh, My Prince," she whispered, then
realized what just happened... then jumped out of bed and started
screaming at the top of her lungs, knocking the little girl sleeping
next to her out the window. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!"

    *SPLASH!* "WAAAH!!!" Genma screamed in shock from outside.

    When that ended, Ranma was suddenly wracked by waves of nausea,
and therefore rushed off to the bathroom as fast as her legs would
carry her... "AAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!"

~Ten minutes later~

    Ranma, male and wearing his red and black chinese outfit,
strode confidently into the kitchen. "Hello," he greeted everyone,
a little too cheerfully.

    Setsuna momentarily looked up from her copy of the Wall
Street Journal. "Greetings," she said in a subdued tone, and
turned back to her reading.

    "Hi... Ranma," Rei said, poking at her breakfast. She was
wearing the Furinkan school uniform: a white blouse with a blue
jumper.

    *Chomp*Munch*Munch* "Rough night last night," a damp, pink-
haired girl sitting at the table said between mouthfuls of her
titanic stack of blueberry pancakes.

    "And you have school in about ten minutes," Setsuna added.

    Ranma blinked. "School?"

    "Yes, it seems you've been registered at Furinkan High."

    "The school system's become... pretty obsessive about
this sort of thing," Rei said.

    "Couldn't I take today off?" Ranma asked. "I mean, I just
got here yesterday, and-"

    "That would be inadvisable," Setsuna cut in, not looking
away from her newspaper. "With a few recent problems, the truancy
system has started to employ mercenary forces. They have a tee
eight-hundred m-one-oh-one, among other things."

    Ranma blinked, then shrugged. "Uh, okay. I guess I'll go,
then." He looked around. "Say, where's Haruka?"

    Rei looked up at him. "She stormed off after we started
talking about the engagement. _After_ you conked out. Later,
she called up and told us that she was spending the night over
at Michi's place."

    "Michi's?" Ranma queried.

    "A friend's home," Setsuna answered.

    "Oh."


    The small bits of conversation that went on after that were
essentially limited to basic 'morning talk.' Pretty boring, all
things considered. A short battle over the last remaining pancakes
between Ranma and Genma occurred, but it ended in a tie, each
party getting half.

    Finally, though, the time came for Rei and Ranma to leave
for school.


    "So, where is it?" Ranma asked, looking at the fence by the
sidewalk as they padded along, debating whether he really wanted to
spend the marginal effort necessary to jump on it and practice his
balance.

    Rei indicated the sidewalk in front of her. "It's basically
straight from here... What are you doing?"

    Ranma had jumped on top of the fence, folded his arms, and
continued walking on that. "Practice," he said. "I missed all
my katas this morning, and I'm _really_ going to need to do
some focusing to beat _you_."

    Rei couldn't keep herself from smiling slightly. "Well," she
said, "you're actually a _terrific_ fighter..." She laughed. "If
you could actually take your sparring partners seriously and keep
from tripping over your own pigtails, that is."

    Ranma shrugged, continuing to deepen his focus. "Yeah...
Well... If I had my choice with that, I wouldn't even have those
stupid pigtails..." Something occurred to him. "Uh, hey, do you
think you could teach me that fire attack of yours?"

    "Hmm... Maybe," Rei grinned, "if you promise not to go
through with that obnoxious plan our fathers cooked up..."

    The pigtailed boy nodded, his expression brightening.
"Works for me." He paused. "Not that I'd _mind_ being engaged to
you or anything..."

    The raven-haired girl, still smiling, sighed and nodded.
"Right..."

    Then, a sudden splash of cold water from on high hit Ranma...

^_^

    Somewhere, a black cat with a crescent moon mark on her
forehead opened her eyes.

    "I sense something," she whispered. "It's unmistakable!"

    The cat crept up to the bed, on which sat a young girl.

    "Usagi!" Luna exclaimed enthusiastically, "I know where our
Moon Princess is!"

&&&[End Part One...]

Who saw that one coming? (raises a hand)

A lot of people have gone into the development of this story.
Other than me, there's Jason Hanks, Jason Liao, Louis-Philippe
Giroux, Jussi Nikander, and that one guy who suggested Haruka's
reaction to the Moon Princess. Haven't talked to 'em for a long
old time, but it was a great suggestion, so thanks!

The goal is to make the Ultimate(tm) Ranma/SM Fusion/Crossover.
The chosen genre: parody. This is the sort of thing that CAN'T
be done alone if we want it done right.

Depending on the response, I'll decide the schedule on which to
send the remaining available material. Part 3 still isn't done yet...

-------------------------------
Benjamin A. Oliver
boredcollective@aol.com

    "We are the Bored. Lower your shields and surrender your fics.
     We will add your standup and slapstick comedy to our own.
     Your humor will adapt to entertain us.
     Resistance is and always has been: Futile."
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