||Chapter 2|| Oh, What Tangled Webs Fate Weaves!
In the male Ranma's universe, a few hours earlier, Dr. Tofu had just made a call to the Tendo home to make sure that they would be picking Ranma up. Not only had Nabiki said that she would see to it, but when he told her of Ryoga she agreed, oddly she had almost insisted, to take Ryoga as well. The doctor would have rather preferred to call the boy's family but he had been unable to find a listing for them.
Ukyo had calmed down after a time, but the doctor had insisted that she go home and rest. He'd also told her not to do any cooking for the next two days. That girl's stress was just way too high. She had no family, few friends, and was trying to support herself with her abilities as an oknomoyaki chef while attending high school. 'She's going to burn herself out.' Dr. Tofu thought as he sighed, he'd had help putting himself through med-school, and even then, it had been a close call. Now there was this girl, trying to make it all on her own, at such a young age, and only going to give herself grey hairs is she was lucky. Dr. Tofu sighed again, he needed to take his mind off of that depressing train of thought, he needed to do something to relax, something he could enjoy. A smile suddenly appeared on the doctor's face, his clinic would be closed tomorrow, but the library would be open, and it had been such a long time since he'd read a good novel.
* * * * * * * * * *
Nabiki set the phone down only to pick it up to call a cab. 'Oh, Ranma, this favor's going to cost you a lot more than I'll be paying for the cab.' Most people would see only a loss and a hassle doing something like this, but Nabiki was not most people, and she was quite skilled in seeing opportunities. For example, she knew that Ranma had promised Akane to try to keep from fighting Ryoga the next time they met, she now knew that they were both at Dr. Tofu's, which implied favorable odds that the two boys had roughed each other up. Ranma wouldn't want Akane to know that he and Ryoga had been to Dr. Tofu's after what he'd promised, and that meant a chance for profit.
Nabiki went outside to wait for the cab, 'I hope that the family can keep away for a little while longer.' This was the riskiest part of her gamble, in her opinion, as the family could return at any time between now and her return. Nabiki weighed the risks of telling the driver to 'step on it' but decided against it just as the cab pulled up. The poor thing had seen better days and, judging by the exterior, was threatening to fall apart at any second. It was for this reason that Nabiki was surprised at the interior, which was incredibly clean and in excellent repair.
"`Ello, miss." The driver said with a grin, like he had the best job in the universe, "`ere'll it be?"
"Take me to Dr. Tofu's clinic please." Nabiki said, then rattled off the address to dispel the puzzled look she got from the driver.
"Right-o, Miss!" The driver said as he pulled several tight turns that had to be several G forces. "Here we are!" Nabiki stared in shock. 'That trip... in less than a minute, we would have had been going close to 800 kilometers an hour!' she noticed her hand shaking as she reached for the handle. "Um, could you wait for a moment? I need take a couple of guys back home."
"Sure thing!" The driver said as he leaned back and relaxed with his arms behind his head.
'Of all the cabs in the city I get the one driven by a crazy, speed-demon foreigner, you'd think this was New York.' Nabiki thought as she exited the cab.
* * * * * * * * * * Not ten minutes later Nabiki found herself hauling two unconscious boys into the dojo with the help of the driver. It was just in time too, because the three other Tendos came in just as the cab sped away. Kasumi and Akane were trying to console their father, who seemed to be giving any sprinkler system a run for it's money with his tears, as he cried and wailed or his 'lost friend, Saotome'.
"What happened?" was all that Nabiki could manage.
"Saotome! He's gone! Dead," Soun wailed, "well as good as dead!" Soun sniffed and seemed to visibly pull himself together. "I told that fool not to go! It's too dangerous, even for such a master of the martial arts!"
"What? Where did Mr. Saotome go?" Nabiki queried, genuinely intrigued at what kind of place could be so dangerous to throw her father into such a state.
Soun suddenly burst into tears anew. "The library!"
"I see." Nabiki flatly stated, she couldn't believe what she'd just heard... that was absurd even for her father and Genma. Then again it *was* her father and Genma they were talking about, their capacities for the comically absurd and superfluous were as close to infinite as humanly possible. Although Nabiki had turned even that into an asset, as very little surprised her and when it did she was quite good at masking that surprise.
* * * * * * * * * *
Ranma was extraordinarily sore waking up, she felt like she'd been hit into a wall. As her mind shed its sleepy cloud she remembered that she had been thrown into a wall. 'That stupid Shampoo! Just cause she feels cheated about that fight in China she thinks she can challenge me to a fight whenever she wants!' Ranma replayed the events of the day she'd met Shampoo.
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Ranma and her father were following the Chinese tour guide to an amazon village. Well, actually Ranma was in the lead by about fifty meters. It was a rather sunny day and that made Ranma smile despite being hungry. She was still trying to get used to her cursed form and they'd eaten the last of their supplies the morning they'd arrived at Jusenkyo. She was so preoccupied that she ran into a Chinese boy in long white robes and a pair of glasses perched on a head of long hair.
"I'm sorry," she said as she bent to help him back up. "I should have been watching where I was going."
"Oh, well... thank you miss..." The boy said as he pulled his glasses down to see.
"Ranma!" Ranma introduced herself with her usual gusto and her cute smile. First impressions, they say, are the most important. The most favorable of there impressions being one of friendliness, which is how most people perceived her usual introduction.
"Mousse," The boy reciprocated, smiling as he explained, "it was my fault, I was day dreaming of my village and..." Mousse hesitated for a moment, he hesitated as if searching for the right phrase, "a special girl." He finished with a hopeful look in his eyes that quickly took on a daydream state.
He snapped out of it suddenly when Genma and the guide caught up to them and Genma yelled "So Ranma! Who've you found!"
Ranma quickly introduced the two and Mousse's eyes lit up when he heard that Genma was a martial artist.
"I just finished learning the 'Hidden Weapons' school under my my master, Leche." Mousse sais with what sounded to be more than a bit of pride.
"So, you're a martial artist too. We'll have to spar sometime, I hear there's a small village up ahead, we could spar when we arrive there." Mr. Saotome offered in a genuine way, the way he reserved for his martial arts.
"Ah, you wouldn't happen to mean the amazon village, would you?" Mousse asked.
"Yes, why?" Genma asked, puzzled because the guide said that it was a rather secluded village and few knew of it save locals, himself, and those he'd guided through China.
"Oh, I grew up in that village, well not quite in the village, but right outside it." Mousse said, "You know, I can show you some of the sights in the area, if you'd like." Mousse didn't seem to notice the guide's face darken.
Ranma laughed and deftly disrupted the situation by pointing out that they weren't getting any closer just standing around, and that the sooner the got there the sooner they could eat.
* * * * * * * * * * Genma saw two combatants fighting on a 'ring' in the middle of the village. The village had a somewhat crescent shape that afforded someone coming from this direction a clean, clear, and unobstructed view of the activities that were going on in the ring, which was actually a log suspended by both ends by a thick rope. It seemed like he was watching two rather mediocre fighters have it out right there in the middle of the village. 'I bet Ranma could take them with her hands tied behind her back, she's always had a good sense of balance and she's coming along well in the Anything Goes style.' He thought as the party reached the outskirts of the village.
As soon as the small group had actually entered the village Genma's eyes lit up at the sight of a table piled with food and all the thoughts of a contest left his mind. "Look, a communal table! I've read about these and I'm sure they'd let some starving visitors have some!" He exclaimed as he raced over and, before Mousse or the guide could tell him of the gross breach of conduct he was about to commit, used the Saotome School of Anything Goes food serving technique to deposit various items of food in all the travelers mouths.
"Oh no, sir!" the guide said as he pulled a drumstick of chicken out of his mouth.
"You're eating the prize for first place Mr. Saotome!" Mousse yelled as he frantically waved his arms in what one could only guess was excited despair.
"Prize, what prize?" Mr. Saotome paused his eating only long enough to ask.
"The prize for the tournament they told you about while we were walking here," Ranma stated dryly while trying to pick some corn that had been lodged irritatingly between two teeth. "the one you were just watching."
"Why you eat my food?" A blue-haired and well-built amazon girl.
Genma nervously chuckled as his mind raced "Mousse, you said this was the prize for a tournament, right?"
"Yeah," Mousse said, not realizing where Genma was going with this, "but it's only open to women."
"Ranma, you can do this. You can enter the contest and win!" Genma shouted excitedly. "It'll be good training and you'll vindicate the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts!"
"I'm standing right next to you dad." Ranma flicked the piece of corn she'd finally worked loose away. "You *really* didn't need to yell like that."
[Commercial Break: Kuno is tap-dancing with his bokken
if front of Shampoo in her cat form.]
[Commercial Return: Sasuke is bringing some tea to his
master and trips dousing Shampoo and causing her to return
to her original form. Kuno sees her and 'attacks' her with
a big hug.] Ranma jumped up onto the log, causing it to start swinging slightly. 'How did I let daddy talk me into this?' Ranma asked herself as she prepared to fight Shampoo for the championship title.
"Shampoo going to make you pay rude foreign girl!" the other declared as she readied her club-like weapons, Ranma had no idea what their actual name was but she wouldn't let them hit her.
The fight raged on for a good fifteen minutes, neither of them getting the upper hand. Ranm was mainly on the defensive because of her opponent's better reach, but what attacks she got in more than made up for their lack of frequency. Ranma flipped and twisted, up and over Shampoo, her intent to hit the other girl in the back and end the fight but her foot slipped as she landed. Ranma almost fell off, but the forward motion (or backward when she landed) caused her to fall back along the log instead off to the side. Shampoo smiled slowly as she readied a strike that Ranma would be unable to block or dodge.
Ranma's vision seemed to focus on Shampoo's clubs and time seemed to slow to a crawl as they made their inexorable decent. Ranma could hear her father's voice slowed down to a ridiculous crawl as well as Mousse's and several of the onlookers. The clubs still made their decent, but suddenly they were being blocked by a long red object.
The slowness seemed to break and time returned to normal as Ranma regained her focus. The red object was actually an umbrella, she realized, and it was being held by a figure she had known for several years, Ryoga Hibiki.
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Ranma blushed as she remembered how heroic and noble Ryoga had looked standing there for a moment and then wielding his umbrella with such skill and speed that it seemed he'd just swept the amazon off that old log.
Ranma also remembered what had happened in the following minutes. Royga had asked her if she was alright and then had been struggling to tell her something when Shampoo had loudly claimed that Ryoga defeating her made him her husband, and then chased him off to who knew where.
After that all hell broke loose and the rest of the population had run them out of town, the only reason they'd gotten away was `caus her father had asked Mousse to provide a diversion, which he did after hearing Genma promise a date with his daughter if he did. That memory made Ranma want to growl, 'What was dad thinking? Mousse is a nice enough guy and all, but he's not the one daddy engaged me to he's not the one I'm interested in.'
Ranma sighed as she reached into her drawer and pulled out a pair of boy's boxers, women's underwear tended to be rather uncomfortably tight in her cursed form. She wondered, yet again, how men could stand to have such sensitive *equipment* in the open, they seemed to be in the way a lot. On the other hand she now understood 'the unwritten rule' between men, having been hit there several times in her cursed form, it was an enlightening experience. Ranma retrieved her gi and was about to go take a nice hot bat when she noticed the time. 'Oh, crap! I really slept in! No time for that, just barely enough time for breakfast before daddy's nine o'clock.'
Ranma hurried through the refrigerator and grabbed what she needed to make a quick and light breakfast. It wouldn't do to make something really heavy before helping teach class in the dojo, it would be rather embarrassing if the sensei's daughter and assistant lost her meal in the middle of class.
As Ranma exited the kitchen she saw the rest of the Tendo household already in the middle of breakfast. All of them, except Soun who was reading the paper, were starring at her and the two pancakes she had on her plate.
Akane in particular stared at Ranma, partially in amazement that he was actually being nice to Ryoga and partially because he'd made his own food. She wasn't even sure the lazy bum knew how to boil water, much less make pancakes quickly, on the fly, and without a recipe.
Nabiki just dryly commented, as if she'd read her sister's mind, "He's just realized that he's too good for Kasumi's cooking."
Ranma laughed at that, "Nabiki, you know that I'll cook with big sister, we'll make dinner tomorrow."
Kasumi just smiled and said, "Alright Ranma, that sounds wonderful, I would love your help."
After watching Ranma devour her pancakes at supersonic speeds, as opposed to the normal warp speed, Akane finally asked if Ranma was ok.
"Sure thing Akane, I've just got to hurry to the dojo cause I slept in." Ranma replied as she hopped up and started to exit the room, "Oh, Akane, would you take care of my dishes please? Thanks you're a pal."
'A pal?' Akane thought, she didn't know what to make of that statement. 'Ranma's acting a little strange, but then again a little strange is nothing out of the ordinary concerning Ranma.'
Akane's thoughts were interrupted by a feminine scream, she couldn't be sure but she thought that it was 'Ryoga!' As Akane rushed out to the dojo she failed to see Nabiki's grimace.
The sight Akane saw was vastly different than any she'd imagined. There was Ranma trying to catch Ryoga who was on an adjustable rolling stool, the kind you could find in a doctor's office, propelling himself along spouting a joyful "Wheeeeeee!" at random intervals. She didn't know it, but had she thought about it she probably could have come up with the right answer, apparently the drugs Dr. Tofu had given him weren't completely out of his system.
Ranma finally caught Ryoga's attention when she stopped the stool with her foot, unfortunately for Ryoga inertia declared that he keep going, and as he crashed into the floor of the dojo three things happened. First, Ryoga said "Oh, the floor, I just LOVE floors!" Second, Ranma tried to catch him, and third, Akane was starting her "Ranma! How could you be so mean to Ryoga?" speech. What Ranma did next froze her words in her mouth though.
"Ryoga! Are you ok?" Ranma asked in a sincere manner as she rushed to cradle him and make sure he was.
Akane just watched in dazed stupor as she watched the following scene unfold.
"Ah, Ranma!" Ryoga said as he finally recognized who was holding him. "I LOVE you Ranma!"
Ranma blushed furiously, her face trying to compete with her hair for redness. Then, after Ranma had caught her breath, she did something that made Akane's ears burn, she kissed Ryoga.
'Oh, he doesn't even kiss me, his fiancee, but he'll kiss his rival!" Akane was embarresed and anraged, to much to realize the implications of what she was thinkihng.
Nabiki had come in sometime during that scene and was watching the whole thing with amusement. She had taken several pictures, for her "hobby" of photography, but what happened next was something that surprised even her normally unshakable self.
Ranma asked with a suddenness that drew everyone's attention immediately "Ryoga! Do you want to get married?"
"Sure. I just LOVE weddings!" Ryoga said in his drugged state. The look of rapture on Ranma's face was priceless.
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Ok, so we have a little of female Ranma's background story now, some of that fateful training trip to China has been revealed, and there will be more yo come.
khim - I really like it. Just one thing: IMO it's
better to separate this stories. More or less like "All
Mixed Up VR"/"All Mixed Up AG" - even if you'll write both
sides of story. Somehow I'm more interested in normal Ranma
in alien worlds, though...
Khim, I understand what you're saying, but if I did that I wouldn't develop the two stories equally. Although I suppose I could separate the two stories and post them on my personal website when I'm finished.
ShadowBakaSama - This is a great idea, but poor
Ranma-chan is going to be in trouble if she isn't a
lesbian or at least bi-sexual with all the girls that
will be throwing themselves at her...
Ah, thank you, you've seen through my evil plan. No, actually, she's not going to be lesbian or bi-sexual, I'm going to try to keep the story as 'PG' as possible. {Although that translates to almost PG-13 in the Ranmaverse.}
And, finally Puu-Chan, there is a reason that the Saotomes are staying at the Tendos that's not even related to fiancees! I would have included it in this chapter but: 1- it was already getting pretty long. and 2 - It's kinda the wrong universe to bring it up in. I mean, wouldn't you rather hear Mr. Saotome or Mr. Tendo tell that part of the story?
Comments & Criticisms are welcome.
efish@cs.nmsu.edu
In the male Ranma's universe, a few hours earlier, Dr. Tofu had just made a call to the Tendo home to make sure that they would be picking Ranma up. Not only had Nabiki said that she would see to it, but when he told her of Ryoga she agreed, oddly she had almost insisted, to take Ryoga as well. The doctor would have rather preferred to call the boy's family but he had been unable to find a listing for them.
Ukyo had calmed down after a time, but the doctor had insisted that she go home and rest. He'd also told her not to do any cooking for the next two days. That girl's stress was just way too high. She had no family, few friends, and was trying to support herself with her abilities as an oknomoyaki chef while attending high school. 'She's going to burn herself out.' Dr. Tofu thought as he sighed, he'd had help putting himself through med-school, and even then, it had been a close call. Now there was this girl, trying to make it all on her own, at such a young age, and only going to give herself grey hairs is she was lucky. Dr. Tofu sighed again, he needed to take his mind off of that depressing train of thought, he needed to do something to relax, something he could enjoy. A smile suddenly appeared on the doctor's face, his clinic would be closed tomorrow, but the library would be open, and it had been such a long time since he'd read a good novel.
* * * * * * * * * *
Nabiki set the phone down only to pick it up to call a cab. 'Oh, Ranma, this favor's going to cost you a lot more than I'll be paying for the cab.' Most people would see only a loss and a hassle doing something like this, but Nabiki was not most people, and she was quite skilled in seeing opportunities. For example, she knew that Ranma had promised Akane to try to keep from fighting Ryoga the next time they met, she now knew that they were both at Dr. Tofu's, which implied favorable odds that the two boys had roughed each other up. Ranma wouldn't want Akane to know that he and Ryoga had been to Dr. Tofu's after what he'd promised, and that meant a chance for profit.
Nabiki went outside to wait for the cab, 'I hope that the family can keep away for a little while longer.' This was the riskiest part of her gamble, in her opinion, as the family could return at any time between now and her return. Nabiki weighed the risks of telling the driver to 'step on it' but decided against it just as the cab pulled up. The poor thing had seen better days and, judging by the exterior, was threatening to fall apart at any second. It was for this reason that Nabiki was surprised at the interior, which was incredibly clean and in excellent repair.
"`Ello, miss." The driver said with a grin, like he had the best job in the universe, "`ere'll it be?"
"Take me to Dr. Tofu's clinic please." Nabiki said, then rattled off the address to dispel the puzzled look she got from the driver.
"Right-o, Miss!" The driver said as he pulled several tight turns that had to be several G forces. "Here we are!" Nabiki stared in shock. 'That trip... in less than a minute, we would have had been going close to 800 kilometers an hour!' she noticed her hand shaking as she reached for the handle. "Um, could you wait for a moment? I need take a couple of guys back home."
"Sure thing!" The driver said as he leaned back and relaxed with his arms behind his head.
'Of all the cabs in the city I get the one driven by a crazy, speed-demon foreigner, you'd think this was New York.' Nabiki thought as she exited the cab.
* * * * * * * * * * Not ten minutes later Nabiki found herself hauling two unconscious boys into the dojo with the help of the driver. It was just in time too, because the three other Tendos came in just as the cab sped away. Kasumi and Akane were trying to console their father, who seemed to be giving any sprinkler system a run for it's money with his tears, as he cried and wailed or his 'lost friend, Saotome'.
"What happened?" was all that Nabiki could manage.
"Saotome! He's gone! Dead," Soun wailed, "well as good as dead!" Soun sniffed and seemed to visibly pull himself together. "I told that fool not to go! It's too dangerous, even for such a master of the martial arts!"
"What? Where did Mr. Saotome go?" Nabiki queried, genuinely intrigued at what kind of place could be so dangerous to throw her father into such a state.
Soun suddenly burst into tears anew. "The library!"
"I see." Nabiki flatly stated, she couldn't believe what she'd just heard... that was absurd even for her father and Genma. Then again it *was* her father and Genma they were talking about, their capacities for the comically absurd and superfluous were as close to infinite as humanly possible. Although Nabiki had turned even that into an asset, as very little surprised her and when it did she was quite good at masking that surprise.
* * * * * * * * * *
Ranma was extraordinarily sore waking up, she felt like she'd been hit into a wall. As her mind shed its sleepy cloud she remembered that she had been thrown into a wall. 'That stupid Shampoo! Just cause she feels cheated about that fight in China she thinks she can challenge me to a fight whenever she wants!' Ranma replayed the events of the day she'd met Shampoo.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ranma and her father were following the Chinese tour guide to an amazon village. Well, actually Ranma was in the lead by about fifty meters. It was a rather sunny day and that made Ranma smile despite being hungry. She was still trying to get used to her cursed form and they'd eaten the last of their supplies the morning they'd arrived at Jusenkyo. She was so preoccupied that she ran into a Chinese boy in long white robes and a pair of glasses perched on a head of long hair.
"I'm sorry," she said as she bent to help him back up. "I should have been watching where I was going."
"Oh, well... thank you miss..." The boy said as he pulled his glasses down to see.
"Ranma!" Ranma introduced herself with her usual gusto and her cute smile. First impressions, they say, are the most important. The most favorable of there impressions being one of friendliness, which is how most people perceived her usual introduction.
"Mousse," The boy reciprocated, smiling as he explained, "it was my fault, I was day dreaming of my village and..." Mousse hesitated for a moment, he hesitated as if searching for the right phrase, "a special girl." He finished with a hopeful look in his eyes that quickly took on a daydream state.
He snapped out of it suddenly when Genma and the guide caught up to them and Genma yelled "So Ranma! Who've you found!"
Ranma quickly introduced the two and Mousse's eyes lit up when he heard that Genma was a martial artist.
"I just finished learning the 'Hidden Weapons' school under my my master, Leche." Mousse sais with what sounded to be more than a bit of pride.
"So, you're a martial artist too. We'll have to spar sometime, I hear there's a small village up ahead, we could spar when we arrive there." Mr. Saotome offered in a genuine way, the way he reserved for his martial arts.
"Ah, you wouldn't happen to mean the amazon village, would you?" Mousse asked.
"Yes, why?" Genma asked, puzzled because the guide said that it was a rather secluded village and few knew of it save locals, himself, and those he'd guided through China.
"Oh, I grew up in that village, well not quite in the village, but right outside it." Mousse said, "You know, I can show you some of the sights in the area, if you'd like." Mousse didn't seem to notice the guide's face darken.
Ranma laughed and deftly disrupted the situation by pointing out that they weren't getting any closer just standing around, and that the sooner the got there the sooner they could eat.
* * * * * * * * * * Genma saw two combatants fighting on a 'ring' in the middle of the village. The village had a somewhat crescent shape that afforded someone coming from this direction a clean, clear, and unobstructed view of the activities that were going on in the ring, which was actually a log suspended by both ends by a thick rope. It seemed like he was watching two rather mediocre fighters have it out right there in the middle of the village. 'I bet Ranma could take them with her hands tied behind her back, she's always had a good sense of balance and she's coming along well in the Anything Goes style.' He thought as the party reached the outskirts of the village.
As soon as the small group had actually entered the village Genma's eyes lit up at the sight of a table piled with food and all the thoughts of a contest left his mind. "Look, a communal table! I've read about these and I'm sure they'd let some starving visitors have some!" He exclaimed as he raced over and, before Mousse or the guide could tell him of the gross breach of conduct he was about to commit, used the Saotome School of Anything Goes food serving technique to deposit various items of food in all the travelers mouths.
"Oh no, sir!" the guide said as he pulled a drumstick of chicken out of his mouth.
"You're eating the prize for first place Mr. Saotome!" Mousse yelled as he frantically waved his arms in what one could only guess was excited despair.
"Prize, what prize?" Mr. Saotome paused his eating only long enough to ask.
"The prize for the tournament they told you about while we were walking here," Ranma stated dryly while trying to pick some corn that had been lodged irritatingly between two teeth. "the one you were just watching."
"Why you eat my food?" A blue-haired and well-built amazon girl.
Genma nervously chuckled as his mind raced "Mousse, you said this was the prize for a tournament, right?"
"Yeah," Mousse said, not realizing where Genma was going with this, "but it's only open to women."
"Ranma, you can do this. You can enter the contest and win!" Genma shouted excitedly. "It'll be good training and you'll vindicate the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts!"
"I'm standing right next to you dad." Ranma flicked the piece of corn she'd finally worked loose away. "You *really* didn't need to yell like that."
[Commercial Break: Kuno is tap-dancing with his bokken
if front of Shampoo in her cat form.]
[Commercial Return: Sasuke is bringing some tea to his
master and trips dousing Shampoo and causing her to return
to her original form. Kuno sees her and 'attacks' her with
a big hug.] Ranma jumped up onto the log, causing it to start swinging slightly. 'How did I let daddy talk me into this?' Ranma asked herself as she prepared to fight Shampoo for the championship title.
"Shampoo going to make you pay rude foreign girl!" the other declared as she readied her club-like weapons, Ranma had no idea what their actual name was but she wouldn't let them hit her.
The fight raged on for a good fifteen minutes, neither of them getting the upper hand. Ranm was mainly on the defensive because of her opponent's better reach, but what attacks she got in more than made up for their lack of frequency. Ranma flipped and twisted, up and over Shampoo, her intent to hit the other girl in the back and end the fight but her foot slipped as she landed. Ranma almost fell off, but the forward motion (or backward when she landed) caused her to fall back along the log instead off to the side. Shampoo smiled slowly as she readied a strike that Ranma would be unable to block or dodge.
Ranma's vision seemed to focus on Shampoo's clubs and time seemed to slow to a crawl as they made their inexorable decent. Ranma could hear her father's voice slowed down to a ridiculous crawl as well as Mousse's and several of the onlookers. The clubs still made their decent, but suddenly they were being blocked by a long red object.
The slowness seemed to break and time returned to normal as Ranma regained her focus. The red object was actually an umbrella, she realized, and it was being held by a figure she had known for several years, Ryoga Hibiki.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ranma blushed as she remembered how heroic and noble Ryoga had looked standing there for a moment and then wielding his umbrella with such skill and speed that it seemed he'd just swept the amazon off that old log.
Ranma also remembered what had happened in the following minutes. Royga had asked her if she was alright and then had been struggling to tell her something when Shampoo had loudly claimed that Ryoga defeating her made him her husband, and then chased him off to who knew where.
After that all hell broke loose and the rest of the population had run them out of town, the only reason they'd gotten away was `caus her father had asked Mousse to provide a diversion, which he did after hearing Genma promise a date with his daughter if he did. That memory made Ranma want to growl, 'What was dad thinking? Mousse is a nice enough guy and all, but he's not the one daddy engaged me to he's not the one I'm interested in.'
Ranma sighed as she reached into her drawer and pulled out a pair of boy's boxers, women's underwear tended to be rather uncomfortably tight in her cursed form. She wondered, yet again, how men could stand to have such sensitive *equipment* in the open, they seemed to be in the way a lot. On the other hand she now understood 'the unwritten rule' between men, having been hit there several times in her cursed form, it was an enlightening experience. Ranma retrieved her gi and was about to go take a nice hot bat when she noticed the time. 'Oh, crap! I really slept in! No time for that, just barely enough time for breakfast before daddy's nine o'clock.'
Ranma hurried through the refrigerator and grabbed what she needed to make a quick and light breakfast. It wouldn't do to make something really heavy before helping teach class in the dojo, it would be rather embarrassing if the sensei's daughter and assistant lost her meal in the middle of class.
As Ranma exited the kitchen she saw the rest of the Tendo household already in the middle of breakfast. All of them, except Soun who was reading the paper, were starring at her and the two pancakes she had on her plate.
Akane in particular stared at Ranma, partially in amazement that he was actually being nice to Ryoga and partially because he'd made his own food. She wasn't even sure the lazy bum knew how to boil water, much less make pancakes quickly, on the fly, and without a recipe.
Nabiki just dryly commented, as if she'd read her sister's mind, "He's just realized that he's too good for Kasumi's cooking."
Ranma laughed at that, "Nabiki, you know that I'll cook with big sister, we'll make dinner tomorrow."
Kasumi just smiled and said, "Alright Ranma, that sounds wonderful, I would love your help."
After watching Ranma devour her pancakes at supersonic speeds, as opposed to the normal warp speed, Akane finally asked if Ranma was ok.
"Sure thing Akane, I've just got to hurry to the dojo cause I slept in." Ranma replied as she hopped up and started to exit the room, "Oh, Akane, would you take care of my dishes please? Thanks you're a pal."
'A pal?' Akane thought, she didn't know what to make of that statement. 'Ranma's acting a little strange, but then again a little strange is nothing out of the ordinary concerning Ranma.'
Akane's thoughts were interrupted by a feminine scream, she couldn't be sure but she thought that it was 'Ryoga!' As Akane rushed out to the dojo she failed to see Nabiki's grimace.
The sight Akane saw was vastly different than any she'd imagined. There was Ranma trying to catch Ryoga who was on an adjustable rolling stool, the kind you could find in a doctor's office, propelling himself along spouting a joyful "Wheeeeeee!" at random intervals. She didn't know it, but had she thought about it she probably could have come up with the right answer, apparently the drugs Dr. Tofu had given him weren't completely out of his system.
Ranma finally caught Ryoga's attention when she stopped the stool with her foot, unfortunately for Ryoga inertia declared that he keep going, and as he crashed into the floor of the dojo three things happened. First, Ryoga said "Oh, the floor, I just LOVE floors!" Second, Ranma tried to catch him, and third, Akane was starting her "Ranma! How could you be so mean to Ryoga?" speech. What Ranma did next froze her words in her mouth though.
"Ryoga! Are you ok?" Ranma asked in a sincere manner as she rushed to cradle him and make sure he was.
Akane just watched in dazed stupor as she watched the following scene unfold.
"Ah, Ranma!" Ryoga said as he finally recognized who was holding him. "I LOVE you Ranma!"
Ranma blushed furiously, her face trying to compete with her hair for redness. Then, after Ranma had caught her breath, she did something that made Akane's ears burn, she kissed Ryoga.
'Oh, he doesn't even kiss me, his fiancee, but he'll kiss his rival!" Akane was embarresed and anraged, to much to realize the implications of what she was thinkihng.
Nabiki had come in sometime during that scene and was watching the whole thing with amusement. She had taken several pictures, for her "hobby" of photography, but what happened next was something that surprised even her normally unshakable self.
Ranma asked with a suddenness that drew everyone's attention immediately "Ryoga! Do you want to get married?"
"Sure. I just LOVE weddings!" Ryoga said in his drugged state. The look of rapture on Ranma's face was priceless.
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Ok, so we have a little of female Ranma's background story now, some of that fateful training trip to China has been revealed, and there will be more yo come.
khim - I really like it. Just one thing: IMO it's
better to separate this stories. More or less like "All
Mixed Up VR"/"All Mixed Up AG" - even if you'll write both
sides of story. Somehow I'm more interested in normal Ranma
in alien worlds, though...
Khim, I understand what you're saying, but if I did that I wouldn't develop the two stories equally. Although I suppose I could separate the two stories and post them on my personal website when I'm finished.
ShadowBakaSama - This is a great idea, but poor
Ranma-chan is going to be in trouble if she isn't a
lesbian or at least bi-sexual with all the girls that
will be throwing themselves at her...
Ah, thank you, you've seen through my evil plan. No, actually, she's not going to be lesbian or bi-sexual, I'm going to try to keep the story as 'PG' as possible. {Although that translates to almost PG-13 in the Ranmaverse.}
And, finally Puu-Chan, there is a reason that the Saotomes are staying at the Tendos that's not even related to fiancees! I would have included it in this chapter but: 1- it was already getting pretty long. and 2 - It's kinda the wrong universe to bring it up in. I mean, wouldn't you rather hear Mr. Saotome or Mr. Tendo tell that part of the story?
Comments & Criticisms are welcome.
efish@cs.nmsu.edu