The first chapter is mostly new material. This chapter is the other one that was heavily rewritten and added to.
Between Ranma and Akane, they will still argue, but not as much as usual. After all, the two main catalysts for their arguments have been removed, most of the fiancees are out of the running, and the thought of being forced to marry against their will. However, as Ranma will say later, "old habits die hard."
I don't own these characters, so don't sue.
It was now a few weeks after the failed wedding. Akane was doing some homework, thinking about the upcoming break from school, when she heard banging. Wondering what was going on, she went outside to see.
There, up on the dojo roof, were Ranma and Ryoga. They were covering the top with something blue. Akane decided to ask what was going on. She went up the ladder that was on the side. "What's going on?" she asked, staying on the ladder.
"There's supposed to be a rainstorm tonight. We're putting up this blue tarp to keep the rain out of the dojo, since the roof's busted," Ranma said.
"I've never seen this done before," Akane admitted.
"I have," Ryoga said. "I saw it in America, in an area called Florida. They were hit by a hurricane, and used these as temporary roofs."
"Hurricane?" Akane asked.
"It's like a typhoon, but in the ocean on the east side of America. They called this one Andrew, I think," Ryoga asked.
"Wait a minute," Ranma asked. "When did you go to America?"
Ryoga looked down in embarrassment. "Well, when I left here once to go on a training mission a year ago, I found out my camping stove needed fuel. I went towards the store, and ended up in Florida."
"You were going to the store and ended up in another continent!" Ranma and Akane asked at the same time.
Ryoga shrugged and continued securing the tarp in place.
"Here, I'll give you guys a hand," Akane said, getting onto the roof.
"Wait! Be careful! The tarp is slippery!" Ranma yelled, but it was too late.
Akane slipped and fell off the side of the roof. She then stopped falling. Risking a look down, she saw the ground below her. One of her house slippers fell off her foot onto the ground below, making a light thud sound.
Looking up, she saw Ranma hanging on to her arm. Ryoga was holding on to Ranma's legs, keeping the pigtailed martial artist from being pulled off.
Ranma pulled Akane back to the top of the roof, where she carefully sat down and caught her breath.
"Please be careful," Ranma said, also breathing hard. "You had me scared for a second."
"Then we're even," Akane said.
"Huh?"
"Ranma, I…I know what happened the night after the wedding."
Ranma looked at her. Ryoga did the same.
"You did?" Ranma asked. "What did you see?"
"You were sad, Ryoga attacked you, you talked about fiancées and that you wanted to be an astronaut, and then Ryoga took you inside."
"Sad is a huge understatement," Ryoga said. "You were so depressed, I was worried you'd release a Shishi Hokodan large enough to destroy the dojo, your school, and everything in between," Ryoga admitted. "I guess I didn't really help matters attacking you."
"No, you did help, after you got some stuff out of your system," Ranma said, smiling.
"Still, an astronaut? I never knew you had such interests," Ryoga said.
"Well, it never did go away. Pop and I would look at the stars when we were camping. He tried to teach me how to navigate using them, but he didn't know anything about it." He then let out a small chuckle. "I doubt I'll ever see space, though. Even without the 'taking over the anything-goes school' business, I don't have the grades or skills for it. Besides, Akane, you've hit me into orbit enough with your mallet. I'd like to stay on the ground for a while."
Akane laughed while Ryoga nailed in the last nail. Just as he did, one of the town's famous sudden downpours started. Akane got wet, but she had to stifle a giggle when the two strong boys in front of her became a shorter red-head girl and a little black piglet.
"We'd better get inside," Ranma said, picking up Ryoga's clothes.
Akane picked up P-Chan, and they went down the ladder. "You know, you're still a little cutie as P-Chan," she said when she got to the bottom. She then tucked the piglet under her arm. "But don't think I'm going to hold you against my chest like I used to."
Ranma couldn't help but laugh at how red P-Chan's face turned.
-
"I've got it!" Gosunkugi said as he came in, carrying bottles of some liquid.
"This is the stuff?" Ken asked, still disguised as Ranma-chan.
Kodachi picked up a bottle and looked at it. "It's safe to use," she said.
Kuno nodded. Kodachi, crazy as she was, was a master of toxins and poisons. She could properly identify what could paralyze, what could kill, and what could cause agony in the bathroom, all just by looking, and fanning some fumes towards her nose. If she said it was safe, then that was good enough for him.
Taking a bottle, he started to drink it. It had a nice lemon-lime taste.
"I added some artificial flavors to make it easier to drink, but it'll be just as effective," Gosunkugi said, proud of himself.
Sasuke (out of fear of displeasing Kuno and Kodachi more than anything else) drank some. The rest proceeded to drink some also.
As they now played, the chemicals did their work. They now played with the skill of the New Japan Philharmonic!
Hours later, Ken got back to the shack he was temporarily calling home and took off his disguise. Being the "notorious thief and bane of the greater Tokyo area" made it difficult for him to live anywhere else. Getting a house or apartment required picture IDs and filling out paperwork. Even if he did go through all that, the government would find out that he'd either been using a false name, or had copied someone else's. Either way, he'd probably be kicked out in a week or two.
Ken didn't dwell on that right now, though. He wanted to know if that strange liquid of Gosunkugi's enhanced skills for things other than music. Picking up a Game Boy Color he had stolen, he played Tetris.
He had reached played for almost an hour before he finally lost. This was surprising, since he usually wasn't that good at the game, and would lose in about ten minutes. Chuckling, he turned the portable game system off and put it back on his makeshift table (an old shipping crate).
He wanted to get some more of this potion for himself. Then, he'd show Ranma just how powerful a copy could be!
-
"Ok, here are the details of the contest," Nabiki told Ranma and his band. They were gathered in the Nekohanten, after the dinner crowd had died off. "I've taken care of most of the registration. You'll need to come up with a band name by the day of the contest. You also need to write your own song or two."
"We can't just use an existing song?" Ryoga asked.
"Nope," Nabiki said. "You need to perform one song, and one piece that is only music. You also need to do a third one, which could be either another original song or another music piece, your choice."
"I guess we should start writing a song. I'll get right on it!" Ranma announced.
"You?" Ryoga scoffed. "What would you know about singing? I'll write it!"
"I know plenty, P-brain!"
"Cut it out!" Akane yelled at the feuding boys. "I'll handle the lyrics."
"What would an uncute tomboy like you know about writing songs?" Ranma asked, then regretted saying that.
"What did you say?" Akane asked, gripping the table so hard it started to crack under the pressure.
"Sorry, Akane. Old habits die hard," Ranma said, sweat-dropping.
"Shampoo write beautiful song!" Shampoo said.
"We need someone who understands the language properly," Ryoga said with his arms folded. A chain wrapped around his neck.
"Don't insult her language skills!" Mousse said to him. "She speaks this language better than you can speak Chinese!"
Nabiki sighed. All the arguing was giving her a headache. She whistled, causing them all to stop and look at her.
"How about you all get together and write a song or two?" she said.
"Why don't we each write a song and vote on the best ones?" Ranma challenged.
"Because each of you would think yours is the best," Nabiki pointed out.
Everyone agreed that Nabiki was right about both things. They got together that night in the dojo with lots of paper and ink, and started working on two songs together.
"How about this…"
"I like that! We could then sing this…"
"Shampoo think this work."
That doesn't fit, Shampoo. Unless…We put this in front of it. Then it fits!"
"Good idea. Let's use this as the chorus."
This went on for a few nights, as the song was developed and fine tuned.
"Guys," Ranma said as he finished reading the finished songs for the fourth time and grinned. "I think we got somethin' good here."
Ryoga nodded. "We did it together, and we're going to win this competition together!"
"Yeah!" everyone else yelled together.
And there we go. Just a note about Kodachi fanning the fumes towards her nose: this is something they teach in chemistry class. Directly smelling chemicals can be harmful. Fanning mixes it with air, making it less dangerous.
Oh, and I was thinking of the more recent Hurricane Isabel when Ryoga was talking about the storm (my grandfather had a blue tarp roof for a while), but the Manga ended in the mid 90's, I believe (not sure), so I went with a hurricane that hit in the early 90's.