In the immortal words of Samuel L. Clemens... "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR."

Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 is the creation of Rumiko Takahashi and used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit.


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"Ante Up"
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

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In a room, four people sat around a coffee table - two on a couch, one on a loveseat and the fourth in a chair across from the couch - playing a card game; five-card draw, penny-ante.

Sitting on the couch, Saotome Ranma generated and held a ki ball under the nose of the man next to him, "Practice on ya own time."

The person rolled their eyes and with exaggerated slowness pulled a card from their sleeve and placed it in their hand and took one from their hand and put it up their sleeve.

"Uh-huh," the third man at the table nodded, "Now try it with the cards you were dealt, Akira."

Akira sighed and repeated the motions, "You guys take all the fun out of this game."

The lone girl at the table, her legs curled up underneath her on the love seat, batted her eyelashes, "Well, I'm glad you didn't include me in that since we all know I'm most certainly not a 'guy'."

"Get two cups of water, hot and cold, and prove it, May," Ranma snorted, fulfilling his usual part in such an exchange.

"Cold water for you, Ranma, and a good cat-fight for us - I'm all for it," the third man announced.

"Hiryuki," Ranma reabsorbed the ki ball that he had been holding under Akira's nose, "How would you like a punch in the nose?"

The door opened and the 'Boss' stepped into the room, holding the door open as he commented, "Violence doesn't solve everything, Ranma."

All four at the poker table looked at their 'Boss' in disbelief before Ranma spoke for all of them, "That's crazy-talk, Boss."

"Then I guess I'm crazy," the Boss replied before continuing, "Ranma, you already know her, but to the rest of you, I'd like to introduce the newest member of our little band of ne'er-do-well do-gooders... Team, this is Ms. Tendo."

When the named girl walked into the room, Ranma raised his hand and waved at her, "Hey, Nabs."

"I'm out," Akira threw down his cards.

"Fold," May announced delicately.

"Take it," Hiryuki snorted, dropping his cards on the table.

"Oh," Ranma swore as he realised that, when waving to Nabiki, he had shown the other three players his hand.

"Well, at least that's normal," Nabiki muttered to herself, only to be overheard by the others.

Ranma laughed, "Normal? Nabs, the one thing all of us here have in common is none of us is able to be normal. I grew up on the road learning nothing but how to fight..."

"And he's the most well-adjusted person here," Akira interjected with a grin, "So you can guess how screwed up that makes the rest of us."

"You're 'screwed up'," May shook her head defensively, "I'm not."

"I'm sorry," Hiryuki countered, "I still remember how you ended up being recruited for this."

"But they were all bad people," May answered innocently.

"Ms. Tendo, the wide-eyed innocent is Shiryu Mayuko - don't let the look fool you, she's nothing of the sort," the 'Boss' pointed at the guy who had commented on the group being 'screwed up', "The wiseguy is Kishi Akira. Akira is a headliner magician, unfortunately he's sworn never to use his powers for good. Trust him with you life, but never with your dinner."

"Hey, Boss, now that's unfair!" Akira complained, "Why would you go and tell the new girl something like that?"

"Because I know you, Akira," the Boss answered, "Finally, there's Akatome Hiryuki - gamer, gambler and has a good claim on being one of the smartest people in Japan, maybe even the world."

"World-class cook, too," Hiryuki added, "But no one ever mentions that."

"That's not the final person," Nabiki pointed out.

"You already know Ranma, Ms. Tendo," the 'Boss' reminded her.

"Yeah, but I don't know you," Nabiki pointed out, then frowned, "Ranma, Akira, but you call me 'Ms. Tendo', why?"

"Because I don't trust you," the 'Boss' answered simply, "And until I do, I have no intention of calling you anything else or giving you my name. For now, you can simply call me 'Boss' like the others."

The hard look in his eyes as he said that made Nabiki gulp and wonder again what she had gotten herself into...