Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2, its characters and concepts belong to Rumiko Takahashi and those enterprises to whom she has given publishing rights. Ah! Megami-sama, its characters and concepts belong to Fujishima Kosuke and those enterprises to whom such rights were given. This work does not intend to infringe upon those rights, nor is it intended for commercial use.
Chapter 4
"Mara, I want a report of your new assignment in one hour!" the voice on the interphone demanded.
Mara hurried to gather the necessary material. Hild wasn't known for being patient nor forgiving. Punishment was usually severe whenever a demon failed her, no matter how difficult the task she'd given them was nor the interference they may have encountered. Luckily for Mara she had good results to report and she was sure Hild would be interested in the Nerima group, so all she would have to do was show the extraordinary work she had done with them. The work with the two other groups was technically flawless as well, but they were nowhere as interesting as this one.
She had some time before the scheduled meeting, and she decided to revise the material in the waiting room and before she knew it she was called into her office.
"Take a seat, Mara," ordered the demoness. "I hope everything's going fine with the new project."
"Oh, yes, we had success with all the three test groups, especially the first one," Mara said, handing her boss a folder.
"Hmm... just a group of children," she muttered, studying the material. "Ah, Jusenkyou curses, that's most interesting. And four of them! I take they are all feeling miserable now."
Mara smiled. "Most certainly so. I have this group under survey."
"Very well. I'll have them checked later, then. I take it was an easy job to make them participate."
"Children, all of them, as you've said. They were easily fooled."
"And what about Jusenkyou's magic?" asked Hild.
"That was a little troublesome, but as long as you don't try to dispel the enchantment, Jusenkyou magic is quite malleable," Mara explained. "Of course, copying the exact cursed body of someone and giving it to another was the hardest part."
"I'm pleased with your work, Mara," she complimented. "You may proceed with the project, and make sure I don't regret it. You're dismissed."
"Thank you, I won't," she said, raising and exiting the room. 'That went better than I'd expected.'
Hild smiled. Soon her revised plan would be put in motion. It was ironic that her adversaries had given her the means to strike again, and she felt very satisfied that their own ethical standards were going to be their downfall.
In a war you can't kill your opponent, and seals were only a temporary solution, conversion was the ultimate weapon.
---
Genma was definitely not a happy panda. The day had started okay, with a nice spar session with the boy that ended in a drawn inside the koi pound, one of the best results he had obtained in the last few months. He even managed to use the kettle first! But things went downhill pretty quick. First his useless excuse of a son showed up with a cat and if that wasn't strange enough, he malleted him into the pound for no good reason. Then Toufuu-sensei decided to give him a crash course of dance and crash he did, face first, against a stone wall which promptly crumbled over him.
Of course even the entranced strength of the good doctor would eventually falter at the task of swirl a giant panda, and it'd happened at the worst possible moment.
Getting free from the debris and limping, Genma began the long walk back to Tendou-ke. All the way home he kept dreaming about a long soak in the furou to alleviate his sore muscles and the many bruises he had collected this day. Yes, he would kill for it, or possibly engage Ranma to the daughter of a sentou owner.
Genma knew something very strange was going on, but right now all he cared about was getting some rest. A nice, Kasumi made meal would most certainly help, too.
Carefully he opened the fortress-like gates of the Tendou household. So far so good. Everything was quiet, but that wasn't reason to relax. Genma decided to enter the house by the kitchen. It was a sound plan – Kasumi's domain was usually an island of tranquility surrounded by the sea of chaos that was Nerima. It was also his best hope for hot water and a snack or two. 'What could go wrong?' he thought.
The heavens themselves seemed fit to answer and lowly and distantly thunder rumbled, heralding the incoming rain. The omen was lost on Genma, however.
As Genma cautiously approached the door, he smelled something nice. Kasumi was baking and if his nose wasn't fooling him, chocolate was present in the recipe.
He found Kasumi humming a happy tune and preparing a second plate of cookies to the oven.
'Kasumi's chocolate cookies! My luck's getting better!' he thought, a paw already over a cookie when Kasumi slapped the offending limb.
"Growf!" he exclaimed, more surprised than hurt. Even Kasumi's slap was gentle, but is was the intention that counted.
"Those are not for you, Ojisan," she admonished. "I'll make more later. There's hot water in the kettle and Otousan is waiting for you in the living room. Please join him now, I'll bring some snacks in a minute."
'Even sweet Kasumi is against me today,' he complained mentally, dousing himself with the kettle's contents. 'What have I done to deserve this?'
The heavens didn't dignify that question with an answer.
Back to human form, Genma found Ranma, Nabiki and Soun sat around the table.
"Saotome-kun! We were waiting for you. The children want to explain us something. Take a seat," Soun said.
Taking his place, Genma chastised his son. "Ranma! Why have you attacked me like that? And why were you screaming like a girl earlier today? There can be no excuses for this kind of behavior!"
"Shut the hell up, Oyaji. I ain't in the mood for this crap and that wasn't me, either," he snapped at his father, a little more violently than he'd intended.
"You expect me to believe that, boy? What do you take me for, a stupid?"
Before Ranma could answer and confirm his father's hypothesis, degenerating the conversation to an all-out brawl, Nabiki splashed him. It was the only way she came up to stop Ranma from putting his foot, or paw, in the month. She really need to break the news without any violent interruptions and a non talkative Ranma would be of a great help. She was sure, too, that a demonstration would be needed to convince the masters of the Musabetsu Kakutou Ryuu.
"There has been some... modifications in the status quo around here," she explained to the astonished martial artists.
"Where did Ranma go?" asked Soun, while Genma was trying to regain his composure. As if to answer the elder Tendou, Ranma picked that exact moment to jump onto the table.
"The black cat..." Genma thought aloud.
"Is your son, Ojisan," she completed, offering her excuses to an indignant Ranma.
Both elders face-faulted.
"How... how this came to pass?" asked Soun, who recovered first.
Quickly Nabiki told them the story of how Ranma and the rest of the crew were abducted and forced to sort their problems around. Neko-Ranma just nodded occasionally to confirm what Nabiki was saying.
"Why this? What happened to my little daughter?" Soun asked, tears already running freely through his cheeks.
"Imoutou-chan is resting in her bedroom, father," assured Kasumi, bringing some tea and a dish with milk to Ranma, who didn't appreciate it. "I don't think we should disturb her now, she was quite shaken," she finished.
"Kasumi's right, father. From what I've seen, she's fine, just a little disturbed with it. And you've seen her, too, when she brought Ranma home."
Both adults frowned at this and Nabiki sighed. It was obvious they didn't understand what she'd just said. Years of habit were hard to break and she didn't like to spell things out without some kind of monetary compensation.
Feeling she had just lost a good business opportunity, she explained it again. "Ranma received Shampoo's curse and likewise Akane received Ranma's. She was cursed when she'd arrived, but I think she was unaware of that. The commotion was caused when she'd perceived it."
Realization dawned on Genma first and he began to move away from Soun.
"I see..." he said, slowly putting down his cup of tea.
Ranma flinched. He knew what was coming. Repeated exposure to Soun's Demon Head attack had granted him a small degree of resistance to it, but it was still something he could live without. And he was right on the money.
"WHAT HAVE YOU... URK!!"
"Now, now, father. Ranma didn't mean to anything to happen to Akane," Kasumi intervened, popping her father's attack out with ease, well before he'd reached half of its normal size. "He was forced to do it, like the others. It was not his fault."
Ranma couldn't help but to wonder how Kasumi did that. It was times like that he thought about suggesting her a career in the police bomb squad, but the reaction of the rest of the Tendou clan would probably be lethal, especially Akane's, who would volunteer to cook in her place if the girl decided to work.
No matter how many times he'd asked, Kasumi always refused to teach him the counter technique. Nevertheless he was very grateful that she has come to his rescue - it meant a lot to him. After almost an year living in the Tendou doujou he couldn't help but look at Kasumi like a big sister and even like a surrogate mother at times.
"Come with me, Ranma, I'll give you some hot water," Kasumi said, picking his clothes up.
All the way to the kitchen Ranma was thinking, resigned even, about the embarrassing situations only a Jusenkyou curse could produce. The nyanniichuan curse was looking better and better by the minute.
Kasumi gave him the privacy he needed, and Ranma stopped her before returning to the living room. "Kasumi, how's Akane doing? Not that I care or anythin'," he asked.
Kasumi just smiled. "Akane will be fine, Ranma. Just give her time. And Toufuu-sensei came by when you were in the doujou. He had found P-chan and he brought him back to imoutou-chan. Wasn't that nice of him?"
"Yeah, very nice," he muttered, sarcastically, under his breath, but Kasumi wasn't paying him attention any more.
Back to the living room, Genma didn't spare a second to start criticizing his son.
"Boy, that was sloppy of you. How could you let yourself be captured like that? And what about your iinazuke?"
Ranma gritted his teeth. "Shut up, Oyaji! Are you deaf? Haven't ya heard anythin' Nabiki said? It was a damn magic user DEMON!" he barked. "I'm outta here!" he said, storming out the house and heading for the doujou.
---
Shampoo groaned and stirred on her bed. Her head was killing her again. She has never had such strong migraine before. Tentatively she sat on the bed and opened her eyes and immediately regretted it. The world to her was just a big fuzzy picture and only through her memory she could identify the objects that adorned her room, mere blurs to her violet eyes.
"You are awaked, child," said her great-grandmother, entering the room. "Here, I've prepared some medicinal tea for you, I'm sure your head is troubling you again." Cologne didn't trust occidental medicine that much and she only gave her Shampoo an aspirin earlier because she didn't have the time to properly concoct it.
Shampoo gladly accepted the tea, even with its bitter taste.
"Great-grandmother, where are Mousse's glasses?"
"Good, child, very good. I was afraid your pride would make you act like that fool, who prefers to wear his glasses on the top of his head instead of in front of his eyes."
Shampoo nodded. Of course, the boy's glasses were just horrid, but right now Shampoo would accept anything to be able to see better than she was, even if it provides her but a fraction of her previously flawless vision.
"But I couldn't find another pair in the boy's room, Shampoo. He usually has a good number of them, but he carries as many as he can, as you well know," she concluded, shaking her head. "We'll have to wait until he comes back to get you another one."
"But, but what about the one I was using?"
"You mean this?" Cologne asked, raising a badly shattered pair of lens, barely holding together by a frame which had seen better days.
"Ah, I've broken them."
"Yes, child, and it leads to the problem of your new suitor."
"What?!" Shampoo screeched. She didn't need another Mousse in her life.
"I'm afraid this wardrobe had defeated you in honorable combat, Shampoo. Hurry up and give it a kiss of marriage before it runs away."
Good thing she was sitting on her bed, else face-faulting would have made her migraine worsen. "Great-grandmother!" she screamed indignantly.
Cologne just cackled in response. "I'm just having a little fun, child. But tell me, are you feeling well now?"
"Yes, great-grandmother."
"Good. I'll have to run some errands and I have to try to find that stupid boy. You'll need another pair of glasses and the quicker way to get one is with him. We would need a prescription to order a new one and that would take some time. If you think you are up to it, prepare the kitchen for tonight. Being closed for the whole day isn't good for business."
Shampoo nodded. "I'll do it."
"Take care, Shampoo. I'll be back as quickly as I can."
Closing the restaurant's door, the Joketsuzoku Elder gained the street. She really wanted to know what have kept Mousse from returning with the doctor, but her main goal was to find Ranma and discover exactly what he'd wished away on Shampoo. If he'd been wise enough to get rid of his pathological fear for cats he would probably be able to use the Nekoken while sane, and Cologne feared not even she would be able to defeat the boy. If he had transferred the very technique to Shampoo, well, this opened an entirely different can of worms. Either way she must be prepared.
---
'Finally!' Ukyou thought. She had waken ten minutes ago and she was trying to break Akane's unrelenting grip on her until she managed to slip away from her fingers and out of the bed. The girl rolled to the other side of the bed and replaced her pet pig with her comforter. 'Great, she's still sleeping!'
Now all she had to do was reach the bathroom, revert the curse, find some clothes and get the hell out of here. She had decided to tell Konatsu everything that happened to her. If today was a token of what could befall to her because of the pig curse, she would need all the help she could muster and who better than the trustworthy Kunoichi to this task?
Her problems weren't over yet – the door was closed.
"BWEE!" (Argh!)
'This isn't good, there's no way I can open this door,' she considered. 'Now, if only I could do that stupid trick Ryouga does all the time... oh well, I don't lose anything by trying.'
She positioned herself in front of the door and began to scratch it, trying to tear it asunder with the Bakusai Tenketsu.
Ukyou was about to give up when the door creaked open. 'Freedom!' she thought and ran away as quickly as she could.
"Oh, my," Kasumi exclaimed, nearly tripping on P-chan when she entered her sister's bedroom. "He's on a hurry."
Quietly she peeked inside and found her sister sleeping. 'I hope she'll be okay,' she prayed, closing the door again.
Meanwhile, Ukyou darted toward the stairs and climbed down, seeking the bathroom. Luckily for her, this time the door was open.
She didn't think twice and jumped in the furou's steaming waters. She nearly screamed in joy when she recovered her true form, but contained her enthusiasm. How would she explain what she was doing there?
She searched the small room outside the furou and found some clothes. Nabiki's school uniform, probably. Disgusted by being forced to wear someone else's dirt clothes, but without any other options, she began to dress herself. Unfortunately for her, Souun chose this very moment to enter the room to bathe himself.
"Oh, I'm sorry, excuse me," he said, closing the door. 'Why do Ranma's friends like to take a bath here so much? They could at least put the sign up,' he thought.
Ukyou blushed crimson and just shoved the rest of the uniform on. The sooner she was back to her restaurant the better.
---
Ranma closed the doujou's sliding door. He couldn't find solace in the Art this afternoon. He was feeling awkward doing his usual advanced katas and each time he committed a mistake his father's words - 'that was sloppy, boy' - came back at his mind.
Passing through the garden he spotted a somewhat dusted training dummy laying on the ground and decided to do a more physical oriented practice. He raised the dummy and positioned it in the support log.
Right punch, left punch.
'Stupid Oyaji, who's he to call me sloppy?'
Right, left, backhand.
'He got creamed by Akane, for Kami's sake!'
Right, right, right.
'I can't remember the last time he fought for real and won!'
High kick, step back, roundhouse.
'And when we fight for real he comes up with a stupid huggin' technique!'
Snake fist, elbow, backhand.
'When I really need help he tries to each me things like 'the crouch of the wild tiger' and 'the hell hound yell'!'
Right, open palm strike.
'While holding the good stuff sayin' he had sealed it away! Why, don't he trust me?!'
Crescent kick.
'And then he says that I'm sloppy! Baka!'
Mule kick.
'And if things weren't bad enough, 'P-chan' shows up!' he thought, gritting his teeth.
Haymaker, snap kick.
'Stupid Ryouga, I bet he's all cozy in Akane's bed right now.'
Low kick, high kick.
'Why can't she see that he's P-chan? Stupid promise.'
Right, left, right, left.
'Stupid pig, why he keeps doin' that? That's just wrong!'
Right, left, right, left, right, left.
'Damn it, why did he have to appear just now when she crying like that?'
Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken, Mouko Takabisha.
The last sequence of attacks was too much for the wooden support log and it splintered at the base. Only after the doll crashed against the stone wall Ranma realized that he'd used the 'pride of the fierce tiger' instinctively when the training dummy flied out of his reach.
"Kuzo!" Ranma yelled. 'Man, I've damaged the wall again! Nabiki will want a piece of my liver for that...' he thought, examining the web-like cracks. The middle Tendou has been biting hard lately and he was sure she wouldn't let that slide and probably meant another photo session for him. Satisfied that the stone wall wouldn't crumble over an innocent passerby, Ranma jumped over it. He would face the music later. 'Better to check out how the others are doing,' he decided, 'man, Ucchan got three cards, she must be hating it. I'll check her first.'
---
Ranma wasn't the only one cursing. Shampoo was, too, unleashing a barrage of insults only a member of the Joketsuzoku could understand. The cause of her outburst? A chair in the restaurant main room. At least she managed to restrain herself before smashing it to smithereens with her bonbori.
'That's the fourth chair I've hit in less than an hour! My knee is getting sore! If this continues I'll have to ask great-grandmother to teach me the bakusai tenketsu the hard way...'
Navigating in the restaurant has proved to be quite a task for the recently nearsighted amazon.
The fifth chair, however, wasn't spared from Shampoo's wrath.
---
Daisuki and Hiroshi were discussing today's events in Ukyou's Uchan. The food was good and cheap, and along the Nekohanten, the best place to gather more info about what was happening. The Chinese restaurant remained closed today, so the only option left to them was to savor a couple of deluxe okonomiyaki. Unfortunately Ukyou wasn't present and Konatsu refused to answer their questions.
They were about to finish their Japanese pizzas when the owner of the establishment entered her restaurant and went straight upstairs.
"Man, what's up with the girl's uniform today? First Ranma and then Ukyou! Who's next?" Daisuke asked.
"Dunno, maybe Kunou?"
"Gah! Bad mental image, bad mental image!" he said, theatrically hitting his own ear, trying to get the image out of his mind.
Hiroshi laughed at his companion. "Sorry man, that was gross."
"Sure it was! And we are eating here, for Kami's sake!"
"Heh, really sorry, bud. But what do you think that had happened?"
"No idea, man, but we better find out by ourselves, or Nabiki will have us sold into slavery before the end of the week."
Hiroshi sighed. "That's for sure."
They were still arguing when Ranma, back to male form and wearing his usual black pants and red silk shirt combo, entered the restaurant and passed by them before they could stop him. He asked Konatsu at the grill the whereabouts of Ukyou and went upstairs.
"We've missed him!" Hiroshi pointed out.
"Too bad, but we can ask him about it tomorrow. We should get going."
"Yeah," he answered, getting up.
Upstairs, Ranma was knocking on Ukyou's door.
"Go away!"
"Ucchan? It's me!"
"Ranchan?" she asked. After a short pause, she opened the door.
"We gotta talk."
"Not here, sugar."
"Fine, let's go for a walk."
Ukyou didn't want to go out and risk getting wet again, but gave in. It was a good chance to be with Ranma alone and they really needed to talk. "Fine. Give Ukyou a minute," she said closing the door again.
"Sure," he answered automatically, then furrowed his brows. 'Give Ukyou a minute?' Before he could give the matter further thought, the door opened, revealing Ukyou in her traditional cooking clothes, but the heavy version she used in winter only. He was about to inquire about it, but Ukyou grabbed his hand and pulled him downstairs.
The pair was walking in the direction of a park for a couple of minutes, but neither of them were willing to break the ice and start the conversation.
When they reached the park they said in unison. "So," only to chorus "You first!" a second later.
Ranma laughed nervously and Ukyou took the initiative. "Still cursed, Ranchan?"
"Yeah," he said bitterly, "stupid Jusenkyou. Well, you know the saying, 'the more the things change the more they stay the same'."
"Not for Ukyou, sugar, not for Ukyou..." she commented dryly.
Ranma winced at his faux pas. He has done it again. "Ah, sorry, Ucchan, I didn't mean it like that."
"Ukyou know, honey. Just no want talk about now."
"I don't think we have much choice," he sighed. "We really need to reunite everyone, at least to know what to expect. We have to help each other." Ukyou digested it for a minute but Ranma couldn't hold his curiosity. "What else did you get, besides Shampoo's speech?"
Ukyou blinked. "What Ranchan say?"
"You're speaking just like Shampoo, Ucchan."
"Ukyou no do such thing! Speak perfect Japanese!" she denied.
Ranma barely controlled himself, it was hard not to laugh at that answer, but he could see by her reaction that she was dead serious.
"Uh, no, Ucchan, you're not," he fidgeted.
"Do too!"
"Ucchan, trust me on this one, okay?" he pleaded, placing his hands on her shoulders.
"But, but, Ukyou think she speak fine!"
Ranma repeated to her what she has just said. "No! That not what Ukyou say!" she still denied.
"Sorry, but that's what I'm hearing."
Ukyou felt dazed and sat on a nearby bench. "Aiyah, what Ukyou do now?"
Ranma didn't know what to say to make her feel better. He was never good at this kind of stuff. "Look, Ucchan, that ain't so bad, right? I mean, it's much better than a Jusenkyou's curse, correct?"
He regretted his words a moment later, because of the hurt look she gave him. "Oh hell, not you too, Ucchan..."
"Yes," she whispered.
"Duck curse?" he risked a guess. Ukyou just shook her head in a negative. He palled. "P-pig curse?"
Ukyou didn't get a chance to answer the question, as a pair of cyclists passed racing just behind them hitting a puddle hard enough to drench the pair.
'Argh! Not again!' she thought, seeing a black cat moving out of her fianc's clothes. Ranma's thoughts weren't much different, as he produced sounds only a very pissed cat were capable of.
They stared each other for couple of minutes, trying to communicate through mimic and failing miserably. Finally Ranma gave up – he wasn't very imaginative to begin with (outside the Art, of course) and read a pig's body language was pretty hard. He never had so much trouble with Ryouga, but then, their level of communication was very simple and repetitive – challenges, taunts and promises of swift termination were easily comprehended even when Ryouga was in his cursed body.
Crestfallen and with his cat ears down, Ranma wondered what would go wrong next.
"Charlotte!"
Ranma's reaction was strong enough to break through their communication barrier. Ukyou interpreted it as something like 'run for you life' and quickly complied. She hadn't no idea why the blond girl scared Ranchan like that but it couldn't be a good thing. The problem was, she was closing in fast. Ranma meowed something very closed to 'go' and turned to face the girl, while Ukyou sought cover under some bushes.
If Azusa had even noticed the black cat she didn't show it in anyway, as she homed in her long lost 'pet'. She did react in time to stop the black blur from scratching her face in midair, grabbing Ranma with both hands. She examined the cat and his beautiful blue eyes for an instant and happily yelled:
"Robespierre!"
Ranma shivered and tried to break her hold on him, but he had no leverage and Azusa made it impossible for him to use his claws. It was clear the girl had some experience in handling feisty cats.
Ukyou observed in horror from her hiding place as the girl used a small mallet to render Ranma unconscious and walk off, humming a simple tune.
The okonomiyaki chef was torn between following the girl or head to the restaurant to get some help. She didn't want to leave her fiancé in the clutches of that girl, but there so little she could do as a piglet, besides risking being captured as well and then no one would discover what happened to them. So she headed for her restaurant and hoped for the best.
---
"Senbei!"
With a small puff of smoke a half foot figure appeared next to Mara's shoulder. The Djinn, God of Poverty and Disaster, was rescued from an entrapment bottle that had sealed him for many decades by Mara, and he was bound to the demoness until the debt could be repaid.
At first he aided Mara in her attempts to drive Belldandy away from Keiichi, making the goddess leave this mortal realm so the demoness could leave as well. Now that Hild was involved, the Djinn knew his powers would be used for far more nefarious intents.
His powers were quite limited and his self proclamation as a god was a tremendous exaggeration. His realm was probability and he could alter it to create bad events to his targets. He could manipulate the chances to the opposite effect, but, being a Djinn, he preferred to spread unhappiness.
He also needed to recharge often. However, Mara has devised a plan to remove the limitation.
"Yes, mistress?"
"How's the battery going?" she asked the diminutive being.
"Senbei obtained a 13% charge so far, mistress."
"Already?" Mara raised an eyebrow. "That's almost twice as much as we'd expected."
"Senbei have been working almost without interruption, much unhappiness to harness and Senbei can't split himself to cover a two groups at once."
Just by being present when unhappiness was created anew was enough to recharge the Djinn, as long he hadn't used his powers to create it.
"Let me guess, the first group is making your work overtime. Am I correct?"
"Yes, mistress. Senbei is even losing some of the energy available."
A smile grew on the demoness' face. "You are doing very well, Senbei. Return to your task now."
The Djinn bowed. "At once, mistress," he said, disappearing again.
'Hild will be most pleased with my work,' she thought. 'And I really need all the praise I can get after the recent failures against the goddesses.'
Mara's plans for Senbei's battery were working above the expectations at the moment. She didn't know why Hild was personally interested or what the Daima-Kacho was planning, but she was sure it involved the Norns. Her recent defeat at their hands was a sore point for her, especially because her own daughter was involved.
She opened her link with the children of her first group. She was curious to know how they were making Senbei sweat to cover them all. If they could charge the battery so quickly, it must be something really notable.
Wishes were all about the proper compensation, at least for demons. The gods may reserve them for those they believe to deserve their graces, but Mara would make sure that the poor fools she granted their wishes would reward her most magnificently.
Author's notes:
Finally! Chapter 4 is here. I must apologize for the long delay. A new job, a long commute and a computer crash that ate all the work I've done on chapter 5 kept my muse at bay. I can only hope I can go back to writing regularly.
And to answer some of my reviewers,
Captain Tsubasa, yes, I'm pro-Akane. And while we are at it, feel free to classify me as a pro-Ranma, pro-Ukyou, pro-Mousse, pro-Shampoo and a pro-Ryouga, too. I like to work with the personages, and I have a strong dislike for gratuitous character bashing, at least for the six above. That being said, those with a pathological need to see Akane suffering will probably enjoy next chapter... while those with a quite healthy interest in some Shampoo action will have to wait a little longer.
Dogbertcarrol, yes, the results were randomly draw. One of the difficulties I found while choosing was that pretty much anything worked fine, on one degree or another. Like Ukyou's hatred for Genma - Ranma and Akane were obvious picks, but Shampoo seeing him as an obstacle (we all know how an amazon loves a good obstacle), or Ryouga thinking everything is Genma's fault (afterall, he took Ranma away from the duel place and dragged the boy to Jusenkyou) or even Mousse seeing the elder Saotome as a hidrance in his quest for Shampoo's love (ok, that would take some work, but it was doable) was pretty good, too. The best thing that came from it was the way problems were linked, for the most part. I hadn't considered the possibility before, and I'm enjoying it pretty much now.
Please review my story, it is greatly appreciated.
By Fangorn (1-III-2004)
fangornffterra.com.br