[Ranma][Fanfic] The Bet - Too Much (Blue Side, Track 1)
MetroAnime
Betfic- A Bet Too Much (still not finished, don't panic)
Track 1, Blue Side
char tm various other people.
thanks to Jared for the clarification of
which wish to use. All of the above is SUCH
a nice way to go.
gregg sharp, Metro...@aol.com
http://members.aol.com/greggsharp/index.html
--------------------------------------
"tINY cHANGE."
Toltiir gave one of those deep, heartfelt
sighs that indicated he was well and tired of this.
Not so much the various bets, but when the
nonhumanoids got involved...
Take this one, whose name was Rolling-
Golden-Orange-Red. Toltiir immediately dubbed it
Goldie. Goldie was a minor Fate incarnation that
dealt with a race of methane breathers. Of course,
that meant that it understood humans about as well
as Tatewaki Kuno understood quantum mechanics.
Tatewaki Kuno came to mind, because
it was he who was centered in the scrying pool.
"mAKING cHANGE, hERE." Goldie's
voice was a combination of chiming and buzzing.
It was giving Toltiir a headache.
--------------------------------------------------
Hours later, Ranma held the sword in
front of himself and was sitting in the Tendo-ke.
"...and so Kuno told the sword to
grant the pigtailed girl a wish." Ranma stared
in frustration at the sword. "I tried wishing for
the sword to cure my curse, and it buzzed at
me saying that there was a conflict."
"I see," Kasumi said. "If you
wished yourself free of the curse, you would
not be the pigtailed girl, and therefore the
sword would not have granted the pigtailed
girl a wish. Oh my."
Everyone stared briefly at Kasumi.
"Serves the pervert right," Akane
said, sipping her tea. "Honestly, the way you
acted around Kuno..."
"Hey! It's not my fault! You see
what it's like with a curse like this, and see how
well you cope. Geez, I got girls coming onto
me in boyform, guys coming onto me in my
girlform, and nobody listens to me in either
form!"
"You're just too irresistable for
your own good, Saotome," Nabiki smirked.
Ranma's life was never boring. "Everybody
just absolutely LOVES Ranma."
"Yeah, I w---. Damn, almost said it."
"Hmph," continued Akane. "You're
always getting yourself into these problems, Ranma,
and it's always your fault. Pervert."
"Why," Ranma turned eyes heavenward,
"did I have to get engaged to an uncute tomboy?"
"Because, Saotome," Nabiki started ticking
points off on her fingers. "You're not rich or particularly
intelligent, you suffer from chronic foot-in-mouth
disease, you're also a coward in everything but a fight,
which makes you completely unsuitable for me. You're
not old enough or mature enough for Kasumi. Your
curse turns you into a girl, which both I and Kasumi
find revolting. Need I go on?"
"Airen!"
"Ranchan!"
Ranma's head slumped. "Oh no."
"Ranma! How could you invite them
over!?" Akane managed to give Ranma a hurt look.
"Actually, sis, I gave them the option of
buying an info service where I call them whenever
Ranma's about to go off on an adventure or do something
that might impact their relationship with him." Nabiki
smirked. "This qualified."
"Hey, Ranchan, if you're gonna wish,
why don't you wish to marry the fiancee that
really loves you?" Ukyou smirked, knowing that
neither Akane nor Shampoo could compete in
that arena.
Ranma looked up, that actually didn't
sound too bad. He tried to think of what would be
so bad about that one.
Nabiki huffed arrogantly. "Oh, get it
_over_ with, Saotome. There is no single thing that
can solve all the problems _you've_ managed to
accumulate. You _know_ that whatever you wish
will just make your problems worse anyway. Why
not just give it up?"
Ranma looked downcast at the table.
"Well, Kasumi?"
"Ranma?"
"Everyone _else_ seems to have something
to add, I just thought I'd give you an opportunity to
throw in your bit as well, is all." Ranma's voice was bitter.
Here he had something that could end his curse, and he
couldn't get any help in figuring out how to do it.
"Why would I do that, Ranma?" Kasumi
asked as if she didn't understand.
"BAKA, will you quit bothering my sister
and GET IT OVER WITH!" Akane yelled.
Ranma spared a glance for his tormentors.
Ukyou gave him a comforting glance, and Shampoo's
gaze was trusting. You know, there were parts of this
that weren't so bad, if only...
Lifting the sword as he'd seen Kuno do,
Ranma took a deep breath. He fought _really_ hard to
phrase this right, but ended up just being...honest.
"Sword, I wish that I knew how to solve my curse,
satisfy all the honor entanglements, and be married
to someone who'd genuinely love me and care about
me without scaring me all the time." He hoped this
last would protect him from Kodachi.
<GRANTED> The sword clattered to the
empty spot on the floor where Ranma had vanished.
There was a moment of unbroken silence as
everyone stared at the place where Ranma had been.
"What wish do?" Shampoo knew that wishes
were one of the easiest magics to invoke, and the hardest
to control.
After a breathless moment without any answers,
Ranma reappeared with a bamf of displaced air and sparkling
green motes. His odd clothing consisted of what looked like
a swashbuckling costume with a leather ammo belt riding his
hips. Tucked under his left arm was a massive book, his left
hand carried a large bag, and in his right hand was a staff
capped with a dragon's skull, the eyes being the mount for
a fairly large sapphire.
Clinging to one shoulder was a small winged lizard
whose coloration matched the jewel.
"Did you...are you cured of the curse?" Akane
sputtered. Ranma looked...older, more mature. Also tired.
Ranma stretched out and dropped his satchel,
which promptly waddled off into one corner of the room
where it could take a nap.
"No," Ranma admitted, then grinned. "But I sure
know _how_!"
Ranma sat back in an easy chair as he found
himself surrounded by most of the girls. That the easy
chair had simply solidified out of mid-air was noticed but
not remarked on by most of those present.
<SECOND PART OF WISH. GRANTED.
TRANSACTION COMPLETED.> The sword vanished.
"Hah! Now I don't have to...worry...about a
dozen...fiancees?!" Ranma stared at the gold band that
had suddenly appeared on his finger, then at the gold
band on Kasumi's finger. Then at Shampoo's ring, and
then Nabiki's, and the one that Ukyou was wearing...
Ranma fainted, falling back into the easy
chair without another sound. Nabiki, still sitting at
the table, managed to estimate the street value of
the gold before she slumped across the wood.
Kasumi had been standing, but managed to fall
draped over Ranma's lap.
"Baka," echoed a choked whisper.
Shampoo looked more than a little
unsteady herself, while Ukyou was leaning
against a wall. Both of them looked towards
the remaining member of this impromptu
slumber party.
"...that," Akane managed, staring at her
empty hand. "That...idiot...how DARE he make a
wish like that!"
The tiny drake flapped tiny leathern
wings and flew out the open doors into the
strange world it had just been brought to.
-------------------------------------------------
"Uhm, Shampoo..." Ukyou felt blood
drain away from her face.
"What you want, Spatula Girl?"
"Take a look at these photos over
on this wall. I think maybe...we need to consider
being on a first name basis at this point."
"What you mean...you..." Shampoo
looked at the photos and felt the blood draining
away from HER face. "Aiyaaa..."
"I'd remember if I'd had a picture like
that taken. It doesn't _look_ fake."
"Shampoo look so beautiful in wedding
dress. Groom look so handsome...Why Spatula girl
and Too Nice Girl and Sneaky Girl and Who That?
Everybody but Groom wearing wedding dress?!"
"Let me see that!" Akane stomped over.
"That's...Kaori Daikokuji. I have no idea who the
girl with the facial tattoos is."
Akane looked over at the unconscious
Ranma, for once without any anger showing. "You...
idiot..." Her eyes caught the book. An idea began to
gel.
"Guys," Ukyou straightened up as a
thought struck. "We gotta clean this all up before
certain people see this."
"What you mean?"
Akane caught it and grimaced. "She means
that leaving a spellbook, wizard's staff, and who knows
what else around for Happosai and our fathers to find
would not be good."
"Happosai with book of magic?" Shampoo
shuddered. "Very bad."
Akane hid the spellbook. The satchel, however,
refused to let her anywhere near it. The staff actually
gave her a mild burn when she'd tried to pick it up.
----------------------------------------
A half hour later, in Akane's room (the signs
were that Ranma, Kasumi, and Nabiki had moved away
months ago, not the least sign of which was mounds of
Cup Ramen containers and other instant foods), the very
uncomfortable group was going over something that
alternately shocked, horrified, and amused them. A photo
album featuring pictures of themselves, pictures they
certainly didn't remember being taken.
"Is that Hawaii?" Ukyou squinted at the
picture as if that could really make the background
details clearer.
"Could be Okinawa, I s'pose." Ranma
was still a little dazed from both the news, and from
finding Kasumi sprawled across his lap. She had
felt...rather...
"You won't even take me to the mall, but
you'll take Ukyou to Okinawa? Hmmph."
"Akane! I don't remember any of this."
Ranma sighed and made an arcane gesture, green
sparkles appearing out of nowhere to form a tall
glass of some amber fluid and crushed ice.
"None of us do," Kasumi stared at one
picture of herself laughing and pointing at where
Nabiki's grass skirt had started coming apart.
"It _is_ Hawaii, I think." She couldn't ever
remember laughing like that...
"Why?"
"This is a picture taken at a luau."
Kasumi handed the picture to Nabiki who quite
promptly hid it.
"So...we're...married. Except Akane."
"I got it! Enough already!"
"Where this?" Shampoo passed a
photo to Ranma.
Ukyou sniffed at the exotic fruity smell
coming from Ranma's drink. Smacking dry lips, she
met his eyes briefly.
Another gesture, fingers rolling in a
complicated pattern, and Ranma plucked a tray
out of midair with a pitcher and a number of the
drinks upon it.
"How do you do that?" Akane looked
at her glass as if she were afraid it was going to
suddenly turn into something nasty.
"Matter, energy, probabilities, patterns.
You know, magic." Ranma shrugged. "Yeah, kishan
fruit punch is a harder pattern to work than say, a
fireball, but it gets to be second nature after awhile."
Ranma took the photo and studied it
briefly, then handed it to Nabiki. "I think Shampoo
has found something."
"So _that_ is where we live," said Nabiki.
A huge restaurant was visible, with what looked like
living quarters up above. What looked to be a small
shrine was set up to the side. In front was Ranma,
the various brides, Akane & Kuno, Kodachi and
Mousse, Ranma's mother & father, there was no
sign of Soun Tendo, and a lot of people nobody
there recognized. Shampoo identified four of the
women in the background as amazons.
"AAAAAH!" Akane startled the group
as she found something in her diary. The look she
gave the group was a mix of betrayal, horror, and
nausea. "I'm engaged to...KUNO!?!"
"Well," Ranma said, straightening up
from where he had been kneeling on the floor, "I
guess the next thing to do is find our way to this
restaurant. This is about all we'll learn from Akane's
photo album."
"Any other clues in that diary, Akane?"
Ukyou turned to Akane, still mainly in shock at the
events of the day.
Akane didn't answer, being lost in some
private horror, her eyes fixed on something that only
she could see.
"Akane?" Nabiki waved a hand in front
of Akane's face.
"Doomed." Akane whispered the word.
Ukyou read the diary still in Akane's hands.
"How about that. Akane's marrying Kuno and some
girl named Azusa. Apparently something to do with
finances and personal honor."
"That...baka...is SO doomed." Akane's
voice was a little stronger this time.
"I think maybe," Nabiki said nervously,
"that we want to be gone when Akane hits critical
here. This has all the signs of a massive blowup."
"Really, REALLY, doomed."
"I think you're right, Nabiki." Ranma
dismissed the glasses of juice back into patterns
of energy. "Let's go home."
Ukyou glanced at Ranma as they
proceeded down the stairs. "You got something
in your bag of tricks to help us find it?"
"RANMA!" Akane's voice was
showing signs that she was coming out of the
shock.
"Yeah," said Ranma. "Hmmm. Group
marriages seem to have picked up. Though Kuno
and Azusa Shiratori? Who'd have thought?"
"Oh my." Kasumi had gone past shock
and into numb much earlier.
----------------------------------------------------
Akane watched the group leave and
turned back to her diary with a vengeance. Where
had things started to go wrong? How could she
put it back together?
Engaged to Kuno? Kuno! This was
beyond intolerable.
Flipping to the front of the diary, she
began looking for something to indicate where
the past had been altered. She found it and
frowned. It had only been a few months ago.
------------------------------------------------------
Nabiki found a similar entry in her
own journal.
The restraunt below was bright,
cheerful, and had elements of the Cat Cafe,
Ucchan's, and other elements that nobody
could immediately place. Exploring it was
put on hold until a few more answers could
be found.
The little sapphire lizard, Ranma
explained, would be okay. He could hunt it
down later, and it was a necessary part of his
cure for a Jusenkyo curse.
Nabiki flipped through her journal
until she got to the relevant entry, read it twice
to herself, then read it aloud to the stunned
audience.
------------------------------
from the journal of Saotome Nabiki:
February 13, 1993
Well, even dealing with the
usual level of insanity, today was...unusual.
Ranma was being fed breakfast
that Akane had made with her usual attention
to the instructions. Sushi for breakfast is
unusual, but _blowfish_?! Even Akane should
have known better.
Anyway, trained martial artist with
an iron constitution or not, Ranma was dead on
arrival. Genma called his wife, gave her the news,
and there we all were dealing with a martial artist
that had assumed room temperature. I don't think
even blowfish toxin is supposed to work that quickly,
but we won't know until the lab boys give their
report.
End of story, right? If it had happened
to me, probably. This is Ranma, however, and
weird things seem drawn to his presence. Tofu
says it's cause his yin and yang are so out of
balance. I dunno.
So, anyway, this girl pops in out of
nowhere, and tells us that ol' man Genma had made
a deal with certain spirits back when he was stealing
secret techniques out of some temple in Okinawa.
Promising them, of course, his first born son.
At which point everyone else notices
what I'm staring at and start to take this a little more
seriously than some nut out of the psycho ward
escaping. She was still floating a good two inches
off the ground. No wires, no mirrors, no optical
illusion. Floating.
So, we manage to tell her that Ranma's
dead, and you'd expect her to go and find something
better to do, right? No. She goes to Ranma's bedside,
pulls the sheet off his face and forces a vial of
something into his mouth. One light show later,
Ranma's blinking and complaining about how much
he hurts.
So, we're dealing with all this, when Auntie
Saotome says that because Akane has killed Ranma
once already, that she's going to exercise her privledge
as Ranma's mother and cancel the Akane-Ranma
marriage. She doesn't know Akane, but doesn't care
at this point. She favors this new girl, for obvious
reasons.
Strange girl, that, shy and demure, doesn't
like to call attention to herself, but when she gets it
into her head that something needs done- get out of
her way! Stereotypical gaijin appearance, blonde hair,
blue eyes, top heavy, but seeming to have a bubbly
enthusiasm that shows through when she's doing
something.
So I get her name, and do an information
search on her. I contacted Yuji as Akihiro was out
of town. I may have to use Yuji more often.
I didn't bother to tell him the details, I
just wanted to find out everything he could about
some woman named "Astrild."
Yuji remarked that looking for a Norwegian
girl in Tokyo would be rather easier than some of the
tasks he'd been given in the past.
------------------------------------------------
Nabiki looked up at the assembled group.
"Astrild?"
Ranma's eyes widened just before he
covered his face. "Uh oh."
"Ranchan," said Ukyou in a low voice.
"Do you want to share this knowledge with the rest
of the group?"
"Uhm, well...while I was training in the
Arts, I, uh, sorta met this goddess named Belldandy.
After I met her, I did some research into the Norse
pantheon."
"Yes," prompted Nabiki in the same tone
that Ukyou had a moment before.
"Astrild, she's the Norse goddess of love."
=====================================
<clip here for splicing to Track 2>