[Ranma][Fanfic][The Bet] Future Tense (expansion set)+omake

[Gregg Sharp]

Ranma 1/2: Future Tense, formerly "King Of
Fighters"
a storyline in "The Bet" Expansion Set version
http://metroanime.home.mindspring.com/
Ahem, this is an Expansion Set of a previous
contribution, one that got a fair amount of heat
from certain individuals, still, the vast majority
of response was positive, and my concept for King
Of Fighters went in a completely different
direction from Dragonbard's Dragonball variant, so
here it is as a minific. Note that the Expansion
Sets are just meant to flesh the ideas out a bit,
and are no substitute for a nice long continuing
series. Of course, this one sort of took off
during the rewrite, but then i *like* powerful
mature Ranma variants. One of the major things
i've tried to do in the rewrite is de-Psycho Akane
for those more polite folk out there who are Akane
fans.
This was renamed Future Tense to avoid any
confusion between DragonBard's King Of Fighters, a
videogame of the same name, and this.
The i who is i does not own any of these
characters. This is an attempt to be amusing,
throw a temporary light moment's reading into what
is usually bleak Reality, do not confuse this with
Art. There's an omake at the end, by the way,
enjoy.

-Mimir's Well, Rainbow-shi, Asgard-ken, Heaven--
"Aw c'mon, I think it'd be cool if I just tweaked
Keichii's wish a little bit..."

"No, Skuld. I said Marller couldn't affect one of
the timelines, even one of those about to remerge
with a mainline, that she was personally involved
in. At least not directly. Same rule applies to
you. Besides, it's not my rule, it came from Him."

"Oh." Skuld accepted that. Mortals could get away
with arguing with Him, at least better than
Limited Class License goddesses could. With great
power came great problems, usually.

"Besides, if you wanted to see the results of
that, all you have to do is check out 'Paradigm
Lost' or even Jigen's entry."

"What did Jigen do?"

"In _that_ timeline, Keiichi decided that he
really wanted to be popular, so he wished that
'girls like you would find him irresistably
attractive' -wishing this from Belldandy of
course."

"Well, maybe if I just tweak something like
THIS!" Skuld didn't even want to look at Jigen's
entry, reminding herself that sometimes ignorance
is bliss.

Toltiir blinked. "You shorted out a navigational
computer?"

"It was prone to malfunction anyway." Skuld
smiled. "And now...it's showtime!"
--Jusenkyo, China, 1992 AD-----------------------
Ranma charged forward, leaping after her father,
currently a panda. The only thing currently on her
mind was getting even with her father for leading
them to a set of cursed springs. The panda slammed
into a large rectangular booth, bounced off, and
continued running as if all the demons of hell
were after him. Having been responsible for
Ranma's upbringing, in this case Father Knew Best.

Ranma, having no concentration for anything
except the fleeing panda, crashed into a boy who
was walking up to the booth, himself intent on
asking directions from this stranger.

The inevitable collision and tangle ended up with
three people inside a room that was quite a bit
larger on the inside than it was on the outside.

Ranma, clutching her head with one hand, put her
other hand down on a certain switch as she got up.

Genma blinked, watching as the strange booth
slowly faded from view, making an odd
grind-thump noise as it did so. He blinked again.
Realization that he wasn't going to be killed by
his former son was quickly replaced with the
absolute bone-chilling certainty of what would
happen when he told his wife that he'd lost her
son. The best he could expect would be time spent
in the panda breeding program.

Shrugging, Genma Saotome started back down to the
Guide's hut. With any luck he could
think of a way that he could explain it to his
wife that wouldn't result in seppuku.

So what was a "Police Call Box" anyway?

---Twilight Empire, Staging Ground, 4400 NE------
"Rannnnmaaaa!" Ryouga stared where Ranma had been
standing a few moments ago. The catwalk was a
smouldering ruin, with the metal itself burning
from the energy discharge.

"Come on, Ryouga!" The Doctor pulled at him.
"This won't hold them for very much longer. We've
got to get back to the TARDIS!"

Casting a last glance back where Ranma had been,
Ryouga followed the Doctor. "Ranma, forgive me..."

The Doctor ran to the console as soon as both had
reached the TARDIS. Flipping the switch to close
the door, he checked the various gauges. "Good,
self-repairing systems are back on line."

"Ranma..."

"I know, Ryouga." The Doctor sighed. "I saw Ranma
falling, on fire, he...couldn't have
survived."

"If I hadn't left the TARDIS..." Ryouga looked
miserable. He'd wanted his revenge upon
Ranma, but this...

"Well, we can at least get you back where YOU are
supposed to be. Since you came from Japan, I
suppose that's where we ought to go. Unless you
had unfinished business in China?"

"No," Ryouga shook his head. "The only reason I
went to China was pursuing Ranma. Now... let's
just go home."

Troopers opened fire with energy beams capable of
atomizing plasteel. By the time they reached where
the TARDIS had been, it was long gone.

Other soldiers surrounded the blackened and
shredded figure on the floor. "Check this out,
he's alive."

"Damn, after all THAT and without armor." Two
three seven was impressed. Even wearing her armor,
she'd have been hurt.

A third trooper tapped on a combadge. "Tell the
Lords about this one. We have a prisoner but he
needs immediate medical attention. From what I've
seen, he's got combat potential."

---Twilight Empire, Asagiri Combat Zone, 4612
NE------
The announcer's voice was a synthetic one, custom
designed based on the latest opinion polls and
translated simultaneously into thirty major
languages as not all species were physically
capable of speaking Galact. "AND HE WINS, AGAIN!
THIS IS INCREDIBLE, GENTLEBEINGS, RANMA SAOTOME OF
PSIMECH INDUSTRIES HAS ONCE AGAIN PROVEN HIS
METTLE IN THE COMBAT ARENA!"

The crowd at "ringside" howled their approval,
the wolfen literally doing so.

"Oh, and this brings us to our guest today, Kelar
Shubb of Psimech Industries. Kelar,
what of these rumors that after 110 years of use,
you are ready to retire Saotome?"

"Well, Senn," the mantis-being said over a
translator, "we've learned all we can from Ranma,
and we've made a tidy little profit. He bought his
freedom decades ago, has gone on to train some of
our Special Ops people, and has worked with our
Prometheus Project scientists. Right now, we feel
it is better for Ranma to retire and be returned
to his original time/space locus. After all, the
odds in any battle with Ranma are no longer really
that profitable..."

"Ah, so he's going to be sent back to his home
temporal/spatial coordinates. That's wonderful,
Kelar."

"That it is Senn! I know if I'm away from my
grublings too long, it just brings an ache to my
heart. Of course, we DID put quite a bit of money
into him over the years, what with all the
training, rebuilding, biostabilizing, psionic
enhancements, not to mention the genetic
reconstruction. Still, we made a nice profit and
our stock has steadily climbed since we acquired
Ranma. So we at the Board said, 'oh what the
heck'!"

"Considering Ranma's fan base, this is a
particularly good move, since the rumors started
Psimech stock has increased 25%."

"To which we thank all Ranma's fans, and Ranma
thanks you too. The propect of finally returning
home has just given him a new drive that we
haven't seen from him in decades." The mandibles
of the mantis clacked in a racial equivelant of a
grin. "In the meantime, thank you for your
support, all of you."

"There you have it, and we return you to
ringside..."
-------Somewhere-------
The thick shiny gel bubbled slightly as the
occupant of the bath moved. What appeared to be a
decorative slimy lump of fungus was touched by a
thin tentacle.

"Yes, boss?" The modulated voice of the secretary
came from an authentic human skull tastefully
accented with fake maggots (the real ones kept
dying in the atmospheric conditions of the bathing
pit).

"Saotome is going home where he has a reasonable
chance of living a peaceful retirement from the
arena," the fanged speaking tube of the Druglord
Clipke spoke in what sounded like a gentle and
reasonable voice to his underling. "This must not
be permitted. Make sure that one of our agents
arrives to make his life interesting."

The fungoid being on the other end didn't speak
of the difficulties involved, or the problems in
getting information from PsiMech Industries. His
boss wasn't interested. "Yes sir."
---------Nerima, Japan 1992-----------
Lightning flared. What was particularly strange
about the lightning was the way the sparks
appeared in midair then accumulated into a
circular shape.

A body jumped out of the circle, wearing a red
gi, black t-shirt, and something akin to lowcut
mocassins. "I'm back..." Ranma's eyes ran over the
way the streets looked. It had been so very very
long. Signposts in his native language, not Galact
or Fethur, or Thiskul, but in Japanese!

The panda took three steps back before he
realized who it was. Fairly difficult as this
person appearing was taller, more muscular, and
looked a few years older than when the two had
last met. A sign appeared. [Ranma?!?]

"Pop?" Ranma's eyes misted over. He was a pain in
the fanny more often than not, but Genma was still
his father. Time had healed most of those wounds
to the level of hazily recalled unpleasant
memories. "It's been so long..." It HAD worked,
they had traced the timeline and thought they had
a lock on where he SHOULD be.

[Where have you been for the past three days?]

"Three days?" Ranma thanked the kami, he'd run
into two dozen faith systems on a hundred worlds,
and had been more intrigued by the points they had
in common over the ones they did not. Just in case
any were listening, he made it a nondenominational
thank you. Considering the odds they'd cautioned
him on, getting even this close was incredible.
"Damn, pop. I thought I'd never see you again. As
for where I've been, well, I don't think you'd
believe me."

[Tell me about it later, son. We have to go meet
a friend of mine.] The panda was relieved. He had
sent the postcard prior to Jusenkyo, and now he
could actually deliver on the promise.

"Sure thing, oyaji." Ranma smiled. He was back,
no more alien monsters to fight. There was ramen
and okonomiyaki and rice to be eaten. He didn't
have to deal with alien things that were either
trying to crawl away from the bowl, or crawl away
WITH the bowl.

Life was good.
-----------------------------
"Ooo. It must be Ranma." Nabiki jumped up and ran
for the door.

"Saotome...my old friend." Soun Tendo walked
briskly after his daughter.

"Oh, I hope he's not younger than me." Kasumi
stepped towards the door, following her father,
having absolutely no clue how ironic that
statement was. Akane merely sat at the table and
sulked.

"Oh my!" Kasumi stared at the boy being motioned
into the house by her father. He wasn't too young.
She placed his age as around eighteen, seventeen
at youngest. He was actually quite handsome though
the material of his clothing looked a little...
odd.

Soun pointed at the young man. "You wouldn't
be..."

"Hi. I'm Ranma Saotome. Nice place you've got
here." He bowed respectfully. Actually he thought
the whole thing looked rather cramped and dimly
lit, not to mention primitive, but Ranma thought
he'd have to get used to that.

Kasumi smiled. He was young but he was polite.
There was something odd about his eyes too. He
carried himself as far more mature and adult than
one would expect from his years.

"So, you've been to China, have you?" Nabiki
looked him up and down and wondered about the
possibilities here. All she'd been hoping for was
cute, but this was a rather powerful-looking and
handsome young man. Nabiki grinned a little as she
contemplated the possibility of having other
interests in her life besides money.

"Oh, is that panda your pet?"

Ranma smiled at Kasumi, projecting calm. He
thought he detected some minor telempathic
abilities in the eldest daughter, mainly she
seemed to radiate niceness. This could be
interesting. "Not quite, if you'll get me some hot
water, I'd be happy to demonstrate."

"Oh, where are my manners?" Kasumi bowed and
motioned inside. "You must be tired after your
travels, please come in."

Nabiki raised an eyebrow. Kasumi was flustered?
Well, it was quite true that neither of them were
getting any younger and the guys weren't lining up
at the door. She was aware of her own problem,
that most of the guys were intimidated by her and
her reputation (well earned) for ruthlessness. Of
having guys take her out, only to bleed them dry.
Of course, that had been LAST year, but everyone
seemed to remember it.

Nabiki wondered about this Ranma, there was an
almost palpable aura of strength about him,
tempered with a deep sadness as if he'd gone
through some great trial and survived.

She caught Ranma appraising her briefly and
Nabiki stared. Just for a moment she had seen
something unexpected.

Part of her success in dealing with
blackmail,information services, and the like was
an instinct for knowing who and how far you could
push someone. You had to be able to size someone
up quickly and (mostly) accurately.

She just caught a glimpse of it, then it was
gone. Ranma had known tragedy, and it still left a
trace within his eyes. Then the control came back
so much that she wondered if it had ever been
there at all.

"So where is my friend Genma?" Soun watched the
young man carefully. A martial artist had to be
able to tell a lot about an opponent by the way he
moved. He could not read much about this Ranma,
other than a supreme confidence that no matter
what he faced this boy felt that he could rise
triumphant.

"Hmmm." Ranma looked at the panda, then looked
towards the oldest of the three girls. "Miss,
could you please get me that hot water?"

"Oh certainly."

"So this is the BOY you've made that stupid
promise about?" Akane deliberately glared at
Ranma, trying to communicate her disapproval of an
arranged marriage with that expression. It was
just another boy, after all, and they were all
perverts. And she had to be polite to this one
because he was a guest. Didn't mean she had to
like it, though. Akane eyed the boy anyway. Just
because he was tall, fairly handsome, broad
shouldered, and looked like he could have stepped
off a romance novel didn't mean that he was not a
pervert. Not that Akane would be interested in a
BOY. Nope, never. Was it getting warm in here?

Ranma looked at the young woman briefly with a
smirk, noting idly that she was wearing a yellow
gi. This might mean she was a fighter. Too bad she
seemed to dislike him already. "What promise was
that?"

"Well, I wanted Saotome to be here, but we had an
honor pledge made before your birth that you would
marry one of my daughters."

"WHAT?!?" Just when Ranma felt that nothing could
ever surprise him again. Nobody had done anything
like this before, thankfully. At least that he
knew of.

Soun continued, oblivious to the shock of his
guest. "You've met Kasumi, she's 19."

"I'll be right there." Kasumi's voice came from
the kitchen. She was checking her reflection in
the window as she waited for the kettle to heat.
Not that she was interested in the boy or even
conscious of her actions, just that it would be
improper to meet a potential member of the family
while looking a mess. Right?

"This is my daughter Nabiki, she's 17."

Nabiki smiled up at Ranma,continuing her
appraisal and finding she liked what she saw. The
hidden anguish and danger merely added spice to
the deal. Everything had its pluses and minuses,
and getting a handsome boyfriend would be a plus.

"This is my daughter Akane, she's 16. Pick any
one you want, she'll be your new bride."

"Ah." Ranma thought about this. It was a matter
of honor, and frankly he'd spent way too damn much
time alone. The past thirty years had seen most of
his friends on the circuit either retired or
killed. It was going a little fast for him, but he
had to admit he'd had a few opportunities over the
years and he'd waited too long or been too
indecisive and the girl in question had gone
elsewhere.

He glanced at the youngest. She was angry though
somewhat cute. The middle daughter appeared to be
fairly intelligent, and judging from the blue
kimono she was wearing, was likely of a
conservative nature. That she resembled a young
version of a certain reporter he'd known was also
duly noted. The eldest seemed either not entirely
there, or had retreated behind a shell to deal
with some personal tragedy but did have some
interesting qualities. She seemed nice. He found
nice to be quite attractive, also very rare.

"Mister, uhm, I'm sorry, my father failed to tell
me your name."

"Tendo. I'm Soun Tendo."

"Mister Tendo, then. I have just found out about
this arrangement. With three such lovely
daughters, how could I possibly make such an
important choice based only on such scanty data?"

Nabiki grinned. He had a brain, and he knew to
use it. That immediately put him above most of the
other boys she knew. It certainly put him above
all those idiots going along with Kuno's "you must
beat Akane in order to date her" crowd.

Akane grumbled a bit but remained silent as she
made a mantra for the occasion. #Don't pick me,
don't pick me, don't pick me...#

That was sufficiently loud that Ranma picked up
on the telepathic suggestion, and raised an
eyebrow. "Well, I don't think your youngest
daughter is that happy with the idea, so let's not
include her, hmm?"

Akane opened her eyes in disbelief and stared at
the tall boy in front of her. "You're not
interested in me? You're not going to choose me?"

"Err. No." Seeing the skepticism on the young
girl's face, Ranma added. "You have my word of
honor, I will not seek to be engaged to or marry
you."

Akane grinned, relief washing over her. She had a
feeling this was one of those guys who would
rather die than violate his word of honor. One
less *boy* to worry about! "Welcome to the Tendo
dojo, Ranma. Glad to meet you."

"Here's the hot water, Ranma," Kasumi brought the
kettle in. She smiled at him as he grinned back at
her and nodded his thanks.

"Uhm, you might want to sit down for this." Ranma
brought the kettle over and measured a splash of
hot water onto the panda.

"HOT! TOO HOT!"

"Oh my!"

"No way!"

Akane was silent as the relief gave way to
anxiety. She didn't want to be the one chosen, but
she wasn't sure if she cared to be dismissed so
quickly and offhandedly. And permanently. Up until
Kuno's challenge, she'd always been the tomboy
that was selected for guys' roles in the school
plays. She had been flattered by the attention
until she'd heard Kuno quoting Shakespeare's
"Taming of the Shrew."

"My old friend! How did you?"

"It was training in China, that did this," Ranma
explained. He quickly covered the salient points
of the Jusenkyo curse. "...of course that isn't
even a patch on what happened after that."

"Ranma...you're cursed too?" Kasumi looked down
at the table. It had all been going so well, too.
She couldn't handle being engaged to a panda...

"Oh my son, what a disappointment you are to your
father." Genma grabbed Ranma's gi and prepared to
throw him into the koi pond. Ranma wouldn't budge.

"Pop. Let go. I'll demonstrate without disturbing
the koi." Seeing that his father wasn't letting
go, Ranma touched two pressure points and Genma's
arms went suddenly limp.

Akane thought about it some more. While having
boys trying to pound on her regularly in order to
date with her, she knew the entire thing had
started from her complaint that she didn't get
enough sparring partners to practice the Art with.
Then Kuno had made that stupid speech. She
suspected that Nabiki, regularly setting up
betting pools based on how long it took Akane to
defeat the crowd, was responsible for the concept
reaching Kuno's ears. Akane KNEW that some of the
boys in question were merely idiots, others going
along with it out of peer pressure, and others
because of the girls that refused to go out with
any boys because of some show of solidarity with
Akane. That one guy had so quickly and
overwhelmingly rejected her was aggravating. Why
did this guy think HE was so hot?

"Actually," Ranma said as he smiled reassuringly
at them, "compared to oyaji's curse, mine isn't so
bad. I don't like it, but at least I remain
human." Ranma took a glass of water from the table
and splashed himself, becoming a busty young woman
as the curse activated.

Akane blinked. The transformation was enough to
derail her train of thought. "You're a girl?!"

Ranma raised an eyebrow at her. "I'm a guy. The
physical body is the only thing that changes, and
it can easily be reversed."

Noting the expressions of the group, he heated
the remaining water in the glass with a minor chi
trick, then returned to being male. "It's a curse,
it's something you learn to live with. If I had
been in some disfiguring accident, would that make
me a freak? If I had lost an arm or a leg, would
that make me less of a man?"

In Shinto, it would, but Ranma had been out of
the Japanese culture for decades and so didn't
remember that.

Ranma shook his head, a little saddened by the
continuing looks of revulsion, but arguing with
them now wouldn't change their minds.

Kasumi and Nabiki exchanged a glance. While the
curse was nauseating to contemplate in certain
situations, Ranma had made an excellent point
about it.

"There's more you should know, but it's not
important right now." Ranma thought about it.
"Tell you what, Mister Tendo. Why don't we let
THEM decide, oh, about a week from now, which one
of them would be engaged to me."

Genma blinked. "You're not upset about this?"

"Why?" Ranma shrugged. "Frankly with all I've
been through, some stability in my life would be
most appreciated. If it turns out that one of
these two can be a good friend, then that's
exactly what I could use right now. Anything more,
well, that takes time."

Kasumi blinked. That was certainly far more
reasoned out than she would expect from a very
young man. She wondered how old Ranma really was.

Nabiki grinned. Ranma thought things out and was
patient. Two qualities that made for a good
business associate. This COULD be interesting. It
was a pity about the curse though she knew there
were pluses and minuses to ANY situation.
----------------------------------
Ranma looked over everyone as they ate. He had
developed the habit of using any quiet time for
sorting things through, thinking ahead, laying
battle plans and the like.

Ranma ignored his father stealing food from his
bowl. It was embarrassing to have such a childish
father, drawing further attention to this display
would only encourage him. Instead he looked over
the group, first as possible team-mates if any
number of the "skeletons" in his "closet" came
back to haunt him.

Kasumi. Fighting potential: poor. She had a fair
amount of chi, but from what he had observed
earlier, she just wasn't cut out to be a fighter.
As Seyvu had said to him one day, not someone
you'd have at your side in a firefight- but ah,
they make the getting home again so sweet. Of
course, Seyvu was referring to his mate, a sweet
little girl who resembled a short T-Rex with long
arms terminating in clawed hands. Of course, that
also described Seyvu. He'd never gotten the hang
of being able to tell what gender a particular
seljuk was from just looking.

Nabiki. Ranma had actually dated someone who had
resembled Nabiki superficially, just color the
hair a metallic silver and the eyes a deep
blue-black and you'd almost have Ca'th Armand.
Ranma wondered if the reporter for the news
service remembered him at all. There had been that
night after the Hachiman fight that could easily
have become even more memorable.

Back to Nabiki. All indications were that her chi
level was lower than Kasumi's. Physical strength,
though, looked to be slightly higher. High
metabolic rate combined with a certain crafty
intelligence. Such a person could be an asset in a
battle.

Akane. Fighting potential: good, from what he
could see. Was initially angry, though she'd
cheered up enormously and then gotten lost in
thought after he'd excluded her from the
engagement proceedings. If he spent too much time
with her though, it would probably cause problems
with whichever ended up as his fiancee.

In a fight, out of this group, he'd probably
choose Nabiki if he had to have backup in a fight.
If she was anything like Ca'th, then she'd be
clever and nasty and inventive. Not a frontline
fighter, but might be able to handle a combat
mecha. Considering the number of times she had
something in her mouth (a pencil, rice cracker, or
something) probably had a bit of an oral fixation.
That could be a problem with a full environmental
exoskeleton, but with a simple booster-suit or
something along that line there were
possibilities. Second choice, Kasumi. Not as a
combatant, but in a support role she could well be
indispensible.

Akane could possibly be trained to be a better
warrior so that he had backup if the situation
required it. He'd have to check with her later,
though be careful about how he did it so as not to
give her a false impression.

"So, Ranma," Kasumi began, interrupting his
reverie. "Your clothes..."

"Yes, Kasumi-chan?" Ranma saw her color slightly
and caught himself. Damn, he had spent so long in
a radically different culture he had forgotten
about many things. Had he just insulted her? He
gave her his best smile, hoping she'd forgive
whatever gaffe he'd committed.

"Oh my." Kasumi blinked a couple of times before
continuing. That smile combined with a term of
endearment had a devastating effect. It had been
quite some time since she'd been a "Kasumi-chan"
to ANYONE. She tried to ignore the little thrill
it gave her to think that someone saw her as a
woman. Not as a surrogate mother, not as a
housewife, not as some sort of 1001 use household
appliance, but as a living breathing woman. She
ruthlessly suppressed the impulse to glomp Ranma.
It wouldn't be proper. "That fabric your clothes
are made of. What is it?"

Ranma stopped and thought about this. He knew
that he'd have to tell them sooner or later. "Do
you remember what I said earlier about the curse
not being the strangest thing in my life?"

"Yes..." Kasumi smiled, still blushing a little.
The way he smiled at her was difficult to
interpret, but she thought she knew what it meant.
This was too close to the spotlight for her to be
comfortable, but thoughts kept swirling around her
that this handsome polite stranger found her
attractive as well. There had been no one to tell
her anything like that for quite some time, and
long-suppressed hormones were stirring themselves
from their slumber.

Nabiki looked on, quite interested and not
noticing the delicate flush stealing over her
elder sister's features. Stranger than changing
into a girl when splashed with cold water?

Akane looked a little less distracted, while both
Genma and Soun merely exchanged a glance and
shrugged.

"Well, I kinda took an unexpected trip." Ranma
rooted around in a pocket and pulled out a silver
marble that he laid on the table. The commands for
the album were in Galact, so he'd just have to use
that. "<Album. Activate. Image title 'Beach At
Orion Four'. Display at default size.>"

Genma and Soun jumped as a fan of light stabbed
up from the marble. Something like a photograph
appeared, though the clarity was unusually high
and everyone was seeing the same picture, though
they were all viewing it at different angles.

Nabiki's eyes bugged out as she realized what she
was looking at. The technology level responsible
for such a device at that size was staggering.
Nabiki, more than her family or Genma, had a fair
idea of what impossibilities were involved. "A
color hologram? There are two suns showing..."

"Oh my. What a big bug that is." Kasumi looked at
the odd people in the photo, one of whom was
playfully punching the image of Ranma in the
center. One of whom looked rather like some sort
of beetle. All except Ranma were clearly not
human, though the skunklike figure was fairly
close to human in overall appearance.

"That's a Thiskul, one of the Thranx lookalikes.
They inhabit a planet about 400 light years away,
I guess. Two days travel by liner." Ranma's voice
turned wistful. "His name was Gau. We...lost him
about twenty years ago when a Sploogie rigged a
fight."

"You've been in space," Nabiki was looking at the
marble and wondering how much something like this
would fetch to an engineer. And this was something
Ranma was treating as commonplace. "Waitaminnute.
Twenty years ago?"

"Oh." Ranma smiled and shrugged. "Twenty years
ago in my life. In real time, objective time, it
was roughly four thousand years in the future."

Ranma waited a few minutes, while everyone
reacted with varying degrees of disbelief. He had
expected this reaction, even if confronted with
evidence. Such was human nature. "<Switch display
to page thirty-seven.>"

The image of a crowded beach faded. Replaced with
an entirely different image. The default on this
one was set in a globe, so that the table and
people at it seemed to be suspended completely
within deep space.

"Oh, how nice." Kasumi looked over at a nearby
planet and moon, shown with an immense red sun
behind them. She liked this, why, one could take a
trip and never leave one's house. How wonderfully
convenient. One could travel the universe and
still be back home in time for dinner. This was
even better than the special effects in that "Star
Wars" movie.

"Who the?! Is that..." Nabiki ran out of words
abruptly as she felt her mind lock up at what she
was seeing.

"Oh, Nabiki, she looks a lot like you." Kasumi
smiled as she caught a glimpse of the woman who
was standing on some circular podium, seemingly
inspecting them.

"That is a 'friend' of mine. Watch this." Ranma
smiled and switched languages to Galact again.
"<Play recording. Use translation routine to
replay voice in 20th Century Japanese.>" The
picture began moving. The woman, who resembled an
older Nabiki except for the hair and eye color,
pouted a little and tossed her head back. There
wasn't a lipsync as she spoke.

"Well, Ranma, you've just won yet another battle,
this time against a full conversion warborg. How
do you plan on celebrating?" The pout turned into
a sultry smile.

A disappointed look flickered over her face. "Oh,
c'mon Ranma, you are SO old-fashioned. Loosen up.
You only go around once in life, twice if you're
lucky."

Nabiki watched her "twin" go into a near
duplicate of her exasperated routine. "I swear,
Ranma, you are SUCH a prude. One of the ace
reporters of the Galaxy News Agency tries to get
you in the sack, and all you can think about is a
way to get home and what this is going to do in
your next battle..."

The image froze as it came to the end of the
recording.

"Who..." Nabiki managed after she got her throat
working again. Her normally immaculate hair was
now sticking up at odd angles. She considered
fainting.

"Ca'th Armand. Reporter for a news agency.
Transferred out of war correspondence when she got
killed the first time. Turned to combat sports,
and followed my career for years. She...left me
right after this recording was taken." Ranma's
voice dropped. "She had needs...needs that I was
not willing to meet at that time. She went to fill
them elsewhere."

"Needs?" Akane asked, coloring slightly.

"Oh my." Kasumi colored a bit more than Akane.

Nabiki mouthed the word "needs" silently and was
glad she was sitting down. She decided she was
going into information overload and needed some
sleep. This was quite overwhelming.

"<Deactivate. Switch off.>

Ranma glanced around. "Look, I've been through a
LOT of things when I left Pops back at Jusenkyo,
then ended up in one of the alternate futures, but
I'm back in my own time now. I've spent a lot of
time in a culture not even remotely like 'modern'
Japan.

"Oh, and Kasumi, the clothing is made of special
self-repairing fabrics. I'll have to ask everyone
NOT to open my backpack. The anti-theft devices
are not something you want to experience."

Genma hid a smirk. No burglar alarm would keep
HIM from finding out if the boy had anything
valuable hidden in there.

Akane looked at Ranma again, a completely
different thought occurring to her. "Ranma, you've
been in space, in some future, fighting, from what
that girl said?"

"Yes, Akane?" Ranma sipped at his tea and put the
marble away.

"Learn any special techniques? Can you teach me?"

Ranma smiled and nodded.
--------------------------
"So you've done all this and you're still willing
to go to school?" Nabiki frowned. Oh yes, there
were SO many ways she could turn a profit from
this guy. If just half the stuff he referred to
had happened, he was a prize. If he knew any of
the details about the sort of things he casually
referred to, he went beyond valuable. The problem,
as Nabiki saw it, was what to go for. Sure, she
could betray any confidences and go straight for
the short term profit. That would alienate Ranma,
but she could probably live off the proceeds of
just what was in his backpack in such luxury that
she could buy the Kunos and have them working as
houseslaves.

On the other hand, there was something to be said
for long term planning. If she played her cards
right, Nabiki knew that she could have wealth and
fame and power, and more than that. Both choices
certainly had their risks and the attendent
rewards. In another place, another Reality, Nabiki
might have chosen to react with disgust and horror
to the curse and have the loneliness curdle within
her. Here and now, however, this was an
acquisition she was seriously considering.

Ranma, not listening to Nabiki's internal
dialogue, walked along the top of the fence next
to her. The range of vision was slightly less
impeded from a height, always useful when you were
used to assassins and the like. "Yeah. I think
school will be mainly amusing, but the sooner I
can readjust to this society, the better off I'll
be."

Ranma spared a glance behind him. "You know, I
don't think your sister likes me."

Nabiki smirked. She'd prefer less competition
anyway. "Oh, Akane hates boys. It's nothing
personal. Actually, she's nicer to you than any of
the guys at school. She's just that way."

Ranma pondered this. Certainly he'd run into
lesbians before, but for some reason hadn't
thought Akane was that sort. "Interesting crowd.
I'd think they were paparazzi but nobody knows me
in this time, and some of 'em got weapons..."

"Akane Tendo!" The swarm started forward. "This
is for you!"

Ranma hopped to the top of the school's wall to
watch. Akane moved forward, fists flying.

"RANMA!" Nabiki looked up at him. "Come on, or
you're going to be late."

"She do this all the time?" Ranma indicated the
melee with his thumb.

"Yes, everyday." Nabiki smiled as she overheard
some of the muttering around them, the audience
had picked up that the new guy seemed to know her
very well. With the right rumors started in
secret, she could then make money on giving out
the correct information.

Akane saw Ranma leap off the wall and make a
spectacular landing thirty feet away. She wouldn't
want to admit it to anyone, but she was impressed.

Akane smiled a little as she launched a side kick
into a sumo wrestler. Maybe if Kasumi was actually
interested in Ranma, then Akane had a chance at
Doctor Tofu. She could console the good doctor on
his loss, then she could catch him on the rebound.

Pitching her voice a little bit louder than
necessary, Nabiki made sure her next words would
reach some of the audience. "Well, come on, Ranma.
As long as you're living at our place, we can make
sure you reach your classes on time." It was
giving away information, but it also allowed her
to establish early on that this boy was spoken
for.

Ranma nodded and dropped from the ledge he'd
landed on to the ground in front of the doors. No
point in being late, he doubted that "fashionably
late" was well received by 20th Century Japanese
schools.

"This boy is staying at your house," a voice
came. Nabiki and Akane looked over at where Kuno
posed, holding a rose in mid-throw. "STAYING AT
THE SAME HOUSE AS AKANE TENDO?! I, Tatewaki Kuno,
shall not allow this!"

"Oh really," Ranma smirked. "You're going to
challenge me? Third dan kendo, tops. Gee, this
isn't even a decent workout."

"Knave, who are you to hound Akane so? Wait,
should I not give mine own name first?"

"Am I hounding you? I'm sorry, it's not
intentional." Ranma smiled at Akane.

"That's just Kuno," Akane rolled her eyes at the
comment. "Actually, you haven't been that bad. All
things considered."

"Aren't you paying attention? I SHALL SMITE
THEE!"

"Hey, Akane, watch this. I'll do it slow. You
wanted techniques, right?" Ranma dodged back
effortlessly letting the sword pass by.

"Yeah..." Akane watched Kuno's strikes coming
nowhere near the boy.

Ranma deflected the sword to the side, using the
same move to pull Kuno forward. At the same time,
he kicked up into the kendoist's face as Kuno was
pulled off balance. He kept his grip on Kuno as
the boy went down, shifting his hands so that he
had a thumb pressing down into the sword-wielder's
right elbow.

"If you press here, like this, he won't be able
to hold a sword in that hand for a couple of
minutes unless he knows the counter."

"Ah," Akane said. She blinked and grinned, trying
to remember that. Well, if one of her sisters had
to get engaged, it was just as well the guy had
some use at least.

Nabiki looked down at where Tatewaki Kuno lay,
sprawled out and weaponless.

"You took Kuno out with one shot..."

Ranma paused to hold the door open for Nabiki.
"Oh, c'mon. He wouldn't have lasted five seconds
in the Arena." He dismissed the kendoist. The real
challenge, he felt, was trying to adapt back to
this society after all he'd been through.

Ranma wondered if it were even possible.
---------------------------------------
A postcard was received. Cologne smiled. The
posthypnotic or the threat had worked, and she
didn't care which it was. Time to see if this
warrior was everything that fat fool had promised.

"<Shampoo, get Sash, Shu Ga, and Tam Lin. They'll
be your witnesses for this fight. We go to
Japan.>" Cologne silently added that if the
warrior wasn't all that Genma had promised, she
would sell a panda as breeding stock to the local
zoo to recoup her losses.
--------------------------
The end of the week came quickly, with the days
thereof falling into a strange sort of routine.

Ranma awakening early to greet the dawn and go
through some simple exercises that looked almost
like Tai Chi. By this time, Kasumi was awake and
had found a breakfast laid out for her along with
a simple haiku, or a reference to some novel for
her to look at. Ranma had gotten fairly good at
this sort of thing, the crowds in the Arena
circuit had loved it when he quoted some popular
novel, ancient saying, or made an impromptu haiku
prior to the bloodshed. And, as he had an image to
maintain, he had learned to cook. After decades of
fixing his own meals, he had gotten rather good at
it.

Nabiki begrudgingly dragging herself out of bed to
watch Genma Saotome begin some sneak attack on his
son, attempting to start some martial arts
practice or training. Ranma usually ended the
battle by bouncing a panda around the yard like
some big medicine ball. Sometimes he used purely
martial arts techniques. Other times he used odd
talents or chi attacks. It was always interesting.

Breakfast was followed by the trip to school.
Nabiki had arranged to be late twice during the
week so that she could enjoy the sensation of
being carried at a high rate of speed by Ranma to
her class. Such displays did not go unnoticed, and
furthered the betting pools as to who would end up
with Ranma at the end of the week. That was the
"official" reason for Nabiki to be carried by
Ranma, given to the rest of the family. The truth,
of course, was that being held within those
strong-enough-to-bend-steel arms, being carried
effortlessly through thirty foot leaps, and
snuggled up against a warm chest, were all things
that gave the middle Tendo daughter an enormously
pleasant feeling. She LIKED this.

Ranma reached school and faced huge crowds that
could not believe that Ranma would NOT choose
Akane. Usually he'd go over them. Sometimes he'd
go through. Kuno, he largely ignored until that
regrettable incident where Kuno pulled a live
blade out and attempted to strike him with it.
Ranma had shown considerable presence of mind and
medical knowledge, and the doctors all agreed that
Tatewaki Kuno would regain use of that arm.

The usual classes, with Ranma trying to reconcile
what he knew with what was taught. Current events
and social studies were the most fascinating thing
to him, as these were the very thing he needed
most to learn at this point.

After school came Ranma trying to teach Akane a
number of moves and manuevers that would assist
her. Usually this was done at the Tendo household,
with either Kasumi or Nabiki or the fathers
watching just as a point of interest.

Then came something Nabiki had insisted on, and
Kasumi had seconded. Without father or little
sister around, the two potential fiancees spent
some time trying to get to know this potential new
family member. Monday it was shopping with Kasumi.
Tuesday it had been going over some of the items
in his backpack with both of them, just in case
either of them needed to access such things. The
next day, Nabiki had insisted on a long walk -
just the two of them. Thursday had seen both girls
spending time going through Ranma's photo album
with him. Friday had been spent dealing with
Genma's attempt to get into Ranma's backpack. All
three had a long talk at the Emergency Room.
Genma's eyebrows would grow back eventually.
Saturday was Kasumi and Nabiki going to a water
park with Ranma.

The only strange point had been when some odd
Chinese girl had attacked Ranma, only to be
disarmed, quietly and quickly knocked out, then
left in the infirmary. Which brought everything
back around to Sunday and a decision that had to
be made.
----------------------
Ranma had faced full conversion cyborgs and
dragons and demonic entities in the Arena. He'd
been stalked by assassins, slavers, reporters,
lawyers, and other unsavory types. He'd observed a
black hole from twenty au out as it swallowed
gouts of material torn from the heart of its
companion star. He'd even gone out on a drinking
binge (he had been the designated driver) with two
wolfen, a seljuk, and a dwarf.

The situation before him, he felt, fit into the
same range of fearsome discomfort that any of
those situations had caught him with.

He looked down at the tabletop and took a deep
breath. Then he looked back up to meet the eyes of
those causing such discomfort. Nabiki and Kasumi
both looked back, one with a speculative gleam,
the other a polite smile.

Akane, leaning against the doorframe, frowned
slightly. This Ranma had proven to be strong,
friendly, polite, and quite a bit more mature than
she had expected. Akane wondered if maybe she
shouldn't have resisted the idea of being engaged
to this guy so much. Still, wasn't Nabiki too
young to get married? And the age difference
between Ranma and Kasumi was quite improper.

"Now girls," Soun said, gathering solemn dignity
around him as best as he was able. "Now is the
time. You've had a week to get to know Ranma.
You've talked with him, you've gone out with him.
So, who will marry him and carry on the Anything
Goes school?" His main concern, that Ranma be a
capable martial artist, had already been sated. On
to the next concern.

There was an awkward silence.

"I..." Kasumi flushed and started playing with
her fingers. Being in the spotlight like this had
invoked her own shyness. Still, he was strong, he
was mainly mature, he was kind and thoughtful. He
quite obviously found her attractive and was odd,
but comfortable to be around. Kasumi gathered her
nerve to volunteer, remembering a few moments from
the past week. That moment at the water park where
she had come out from the changing room and he'd
said how beautiful she looked. The moment when
she'd been cradled in his arms as he had leapt to
the top of the wooden structure at the fountains
to plan out their next stop. Kasumi wanted more of
those moments. And, of course, there had been what
she had seen in his eyes when he had spoken of his
exploits and the friends he had lost. Kasumi had
seen the Need and Loneliness in Ranma's soul and
ached to see it filled.

"I..." Nabiki chewed on her lower lip. Boyfriend,
yes. Fiancee possibly. The way her father had said
that sounded like the ceremony was scheduled for
later that afternoon. Still, he was intelligent,
and he was strong. My goodness he was strong. She
wasn't sure what his limits in that regard was.
And with his knowledge of future technology and
developments he could give little hints to keep
engineering students running in circles for days.
She'd been lonely, with nothing beyond money to
occupy her. Here she could bypass the money
entirely and go straight to levels of comfort and
security that great wealth would normally be
needed for. Nabiki resolved that as soon as she
could talk through the lump in her throat, she'd
concede that Ranma wouldn't be an unacceptable
fiancee. She wasn't willing to have the situation
control her, instead of her in control of the
situation. Still, in business as in life,
opportunity tended to knock once. Temptation
knocked all the time. Business acumen was in
knowing which was knocking and right now her
instincts said that Opportunity was looking very
nervous across the dining room table.

Ranma swallowed as the silence grew. He should
have known. He was just too weird, too strange,
too alien. That fear had been building over the
week, even though Ranma had tried to ignore it.
He'd never be accepted by either of these two
except as purely platonic friends. Too bad, he was
really beginning to like them. Kasumi was
beautiful, had a demure strength to her, and
really seemed to enjoy their little trips. Nabiki
could be really cute, had a fascination for his
gadgetry, and Ranma had noticed the way she
snuggled in when he had to carry her to school on
those days she was late. In the Arena, the crowds
had only seen the image of Ranma that his
owners/managers had wanted projected and not him
as a person. Having tried to open up to the two
and then being rejected here and now was hurting
him more than he wanted to admit.

Akane's frown deepened. What was wrong with
them? Why wasn't anyone speaking? She *knew*
without a doubt why Nabiki found excuses to be
carried those mornings. Akane also *knew* that
Kasumi's interest had increased over the past
week, to the point where you could see the way
Kasumi's eyes tracked Ranma. Nabiki was doing the
same thing, and there Ranma was looking more and
more like he wanted to do a vanishing act. Akane
acknowledged to herself that while she still
thought the whole arranged marriage idea sucked,
she no longer regarded this Ranma as a mere *boy*
or completely unacceptable.

"Shampoo accept!"

The entire group made an eerie synchronized blink
at that.

The door burst open, unfortunately in little
pieces, and a Chinese girl with long hair entered.
She was followed by a short older woman and three
girls of about the first's age.

"<Shampoo, I told you to open the door. NOT
destroy it.>"

"<Sorry Great-Grandmama, but door is open now.>"

Akane stood ready, her house had just been broken
into, and she was anxious to test herself against
a new opponent. She'd been learning techniques all
week, and people had been trying to defeat Ranma
instead of her. This looked like a good chance for
a battle.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" Soun Tendo
growled at this, one of the most important moments
in his daughters' lives, being interrupted by
property-destroying strangers. He was not a happy
camper.

Everyone present noticed Genma dousing himself
and holding up a sign that read [I'm just a cute
lil' panda.]

"I'm afraid that the marriage of Ranma Saotome to
one of your daughters will not be permitted. By
Amazon Law, Ranma was promised to Shampoo by his
father and then the marriage sealed when he defeat
ed her in combat." The old woman smiled at the
crowd. "It's a done deal."

"<That was the Shattering Touch technique, wasn't
it?>

The Amazons stared at Ranma briefly as he had
just spoken in something resembling their own
language. Not to mention he was naming Special
Techniques casually.

"That was the Shattering Touch technique, similar
to the Breaking Point, wasn't it?" Ranma repeated
in Japanese.

"Son in law, we need to talk."
----------------------------------------
Akane was keeping an eye on the Amazons as
Soun,Genma, Ranma, and Cologne hammered out the
details of an Armistice. Ranma had suggested
getting out of the house before tempers continued
to flare up, that it might be more productive to
try and use a Western custom of hammering out a
deal during lunch.

If nothing else, a full meal and a crowd of
others ought to keep the violence level from
getting too outrageous.

Akane dismissed the Amazon known as Sash after a
moment. One look at Nabiki's manga collection, and
*that* Amazon was happily chatting details of the
latest romance manga with Akane's middle sister.

Shampoo had wanted to accompany Ranma. Shampoo
had been left behind. Shampoo was unhappy. Akane
kept on eye on the door destroyer.

Tam Lin and Shu Ga were more easily dismissed
than Shampoo though not as happily oblivious to
anything outside of their reading material as
Sash.

The crackling noise brought all of their
attentions to something other than the tension of
the situation. Excepting Sash who had to be hit
upside the head to get her to put down the manga.

A circular bolt of lightning, chasing its own
tail, brought hurried speculation in two
languages.
---------------
"He MUST marry one of my daughters, it is not
only a matter of honor but of long personal
friendship forged under the suffering of serving
under a demon."

"Don't spit rice at me, sonny boy. By defeating
my Shampoo, he's already effectively married her.
Eh? Son-in-law, your watch is beeping."

Ranma looked down with some alarm (and a tiny bit
of relief) at the device. "Actually that's a
multifunction wristcomp. But...oh dear kami,
Nabiki."

"Excuse me?" Soun blinked as his thought
processes struggled to go in a different
direction, having gained a lot of momentum on
their current course.

Ranma stood. "Uhm, I've got to go. Cologne, as an
Elder you might follow me. You two stay here and
take care of the bill, come as soon as you can?"

"Huh? What?"

Ranma pointed to the display, exasperation
clearly showing. "That's Nabiki's signal that
she's in deep trouble."

"But wait." Soun stopped as he became aware that
Ranma was no longer even in the restaurant. The
old woman was a visible blur heading towards the
exit, presumably after him. "Well, I, NABIKI!?"

Genma finished his meal, sighed, and noticed that
he was quite alone. Looking around, he decided to
sneak off before anyone noticed that he'd been
left holding the bill.

He didn't make it.
------------------------------
Nabiki watched in amazement as Akane and the
Amazons fought. She'd known that under Ranma's
tutelage, Akane had improved. The extent of which
was now becoming apparent.

Two of the Amazons had needed to "retreat" from
the battle. Tam Lin had been thrown into the
compound wall with enough force that she had gone
through it. Sash had managed to pin the thing's
scorpion-like tail with a cloth namesake, only to
be caught by a cloud of needles that a lump on the
thing's right upper forearm had ejected.

Akane bounced off the dojo wall, gaining height
in order to execute a flying spin kick that made a
cracking noise as it impacted the thing's head.
Shampoo attacked one of the beast's knees with a
pair of bonbori. Sugar spun an extremely large
sword through an intricate move and brought it
sweeping towards the creature's neck. It blocked,
but would not be able to use THAT arm again.

The creature countered, and Sugar skipped like a
thrown rock across the backyard to impact
somewhere inside the dojo. A moment later and its
tail swung free to slap Akane completely out of
the yard. The insectile mouth opened and Shampoo
was caught by the cloud of white fibers which
erupted. A moment later and the Amazon Champion
was completely enclosed by a coccoon.

Nabiki swallowed as the creature stepped forward
and regarded the two still standing. Kasumi moved
a little in front of Nabiki.

The scorpion tail shot forward towards the
apparently unprotected girl in front. It clashed
against her forcefield, and Nabiki was abruptly
glad that she had suggested wearing Ranma's gift
to Kasumi. Even though the suggestion had been
prompted due to the presence of armed warrior
women and not a six-limbed bug-scorpion attacker.

Nabiki's own device, the multifunctional box
that Ranma had referred to as a "sort of
electronic Swiss Army knife", had long since sent
out its signal. Ranma had given both devices to
his fiancees. A defensive device to Kasumi, an
informational one to Nabiki. The only functions
she knew for certain of were the emergency signal
(Ranma had shown her that one) and another setting
that had made the neighborhood dogs howl.

The mouth opened again and the spray covered
Kasumi and her forcefield. Nabiki's eyes widened
as she saw the fibers move and squirm so as to
wrap her sister up more effectively. Nabiki looked
up to see the monster stepping forward and hoped
this wouldn't hurt.
----------------------
As he came into sight of the house, Ranma
summoned his armor. The wall separating him from
the gladiatorial armor could be replaced later.
The simple-looking armor fitted itself around him,
adjusting snugly into place as the AI came online.

"/Sensor sweep, full, passive only./" Ranma
paused his headlong flight for the seconds
necessary. He also made a note to recalibrate for
Japanese.

"/Temporal flux detected. Aperature open for 5.37
seconds before dissipating. One bioborg detected.
Splugorth manufacture. Warning. Parasitic
organisms detected. Forcefield detected, not in
use by bioborg. Forcefield failing under energy
absorbtion particles. Medium high threat
potential. Response?/"

"/Forcefield on. Full environmental protection.
Chi amplifier ready on my mark. Specify bioborg as
Enemy, native human females as Allies/Hostages
using parameters from Scenario 911./"

"/Ready. Running. Systems active./"

"/Then, it's showtime./"
---------------------
The octopus-like creature gently brushed enough
hair away that scalp was revealed, and pumped
another load of paralysis venom into its victim
just to make sure. "This One?" inquired the biot
of Those Who Command.

"And These." Those Who Command sent back.
"Secondary targets will be neutralized. Commence
operation."

The octopus settled itself into place, covering
the first victim's face and sending millions of
nanobots into the designated victim. Then the
second, whose forcefield failed a moment later.
Finally a third. By the time the biot had begun
squirting nanobots into the third, the first
victim's nanobots had multiplied to billions. As
it finished, the biot noted that communication to
Those Who Command was being jammed. Therefore
speed was required.

It had just finished with Shampoo when a small
chi blast reduced it to smoking fragments.
-----------------------
Cologne reached the compound to see a battle
going on that managed to impress even her. A
four-armed (though one of the arms ended in a
ragged stump) scorpion tailed demon was fighting
Ranma. The two clashed together on the ground,
reappeared in midair, only to end up on the wall
or the roof a moment later.

The demon used blasts of flame, acid, needle
shards, some sort of white webbing, and bursts of
blue paste. Ranma used chi bursts, psi, and odd
devices that extruded themselves briefly from his
armor. Cologne particularly liked the chi-sword.

Cologne spotted Ranma sparing an eyeblink's worth
of time to target and fire a chi-blast at
something other than his opponent, and the
opponent tried to put itself in the path of the
burst. Naturally her curiosity was aroused.

Amazons had been scattered like chaff before the
wind. There were also three figures bound with
webbing and a blue paste on their faces.

A blinking light on a box drew her attention.
How odd, as she examined it (without touching, one
doesn't get to be three hundred years old without
learning a measure of caution) she had the
distinct impression it was examining her. She
looked over the three bound figures a moment
later."<Interesting. Now what to do? Wash this
paste off?>"

"<Switching to Ancient Language pack,
Chinese-Mandarin. Avoid contact with nanopaste.
Requesting assistance.>" The voice was a pleasant
but nondescript baritone.

Cologne's attention swept back to the box. "<Some
sort of computer?>"

"<Self is an AI device programmed by the Thiskul
Gau and given to the Human Ranma prior to Gau
Unit's death. Human Ranma gave Self to Human
Nabiki as a teaching device and monitor. Request
assistance.>"

Cologne blinked as a hologram appeared over the
black box. "<Assist how, exactly?>"

"<Enemy device is a programming transponder.
Location is interior dojo. If Self is brought to
within two meters of device, Self will be able to
reprogram device which is in the process of
reprogramming genetic structures of Human Nabiki,
Human Kasumi, and Human Shampoo.>"

Cologne had been called many things over many
years. Slow was not usually one of them. She
weighed the possibility this was a trick vs the
possibility it was legit and moved accordingly.
The chi blast she had observed earlier had burned
through some odd creature that had a semi-organic
look similar to the creature that Ranma was
fighting. The box, however, was a sleek plastic
and metal design that was more reminiscent of
Ranma's armor.

The box was in her hands and she headed to the
dojo before another heartbeat had passed.

Another heartbeat passed and another odd organic
device was pried from the dojo wall by her cane to
lay on the floor beside the black box.

Cologne fidgeted for a few moments while the box
hummed. "<Excuse me, but do I understand that you
are an intelligent computer?>"

"<Essentially correct, though there is little
resemblence between Self and computers of this
era.>"

"<The blue paste is a poison of some sort? A
hypnotic?>"

"<Medical nanopaste.>" The computer paused
briefly as it came to a tricky part of programming
and it directed a major portion of attention to
it. "<Hundreds of billions of tiny robots which
rearrange DNA and organic compounds to suit the
need. Used by certain races to permanently enslave
their subjects, others to correct systemic
breakdowns or malfunctions. Still others use it as
a means of torture, some use it to alter
appearance, while the Thiskul use nanopaste in
their quest for Transcedence. Previous program was
meant as a devolutionary spiral.>"

"<I see,>" Cologne nodded, glad she hadn't simply
wiped the stuff off. She'd have to have Sash
explain this sort of thing to her later. It didn't
sound pleasant. "<So you are making this paste
inert?>"

"<Not really desirable. First Self has to undo
the damage already done. Then set the nanobots on
a different course for programmed limits. Do you
have any requests?>"

"<Requests?>" Cologne blinked.

"<Have already discovered several problems that
might as well be corrected now,>" the baritone of
the computer sounded almost pitying. That he was
having simultaneous conversations with three
others was not obvious to the Elder. "<DNA coding
of Human, correction, designates Kasumi Tendo and
Nabiki Tendo shows prediliction for cancerous
development. Correcting this. Weakness in
ligaments of knee on designate Shampoo also noted.
Correct this?>"

"<Uhm, yes.>" Cologne blinked again. "<Things can
be transformed from one thing to another? This
blue paste can be used to correct genetics and
medical problems?>"

"<That *is* the main use of medical nanopaste.>"
The computer sounded chiding.

"<I see.>" Cologne goggled for a moment, then
smiled. "<How much do you know of the current
situation with the Tendos, Ranma, and the
Amazons?>"

"<Quite a bit,>" the device replied. "<Though my
initial programming was by Gau and mating
practices are considerably different among the
Thiskul. The female doesn't try to catch and eat
the male during the first few moments after
mating, for one thing. Note that Self will not
endanger or neutralize the Tendo units to favor
your candidate.>"

Cologne shrugged. That would have simplified
matters, but she could see *other* possibilities
here. "<That shouldn't be a problem. How about. .
.>"
---------------------------
Ranma finally finished the biobot off by
overstressing its regenerational abilities. Then,
to make sure, he reduced it to the level of
grease-spot.

Unfortunately, Box wasn't speaking and Cologne's
explanation was not all that Ranma could have
desired.
---------------------------
Nabiki relaxed slightly. She had been drowning in
a cold darkness a moment ago. She had also been
convinced that she had died and not made it to a
good place. Then the nature of Nabiki's
environment had changed. First the water had
started supporting her, then it had become warm
tropical waters. The lights had come on after
that, and what lights they were.

Overhead a ringed planet similar to Saturn could
be seen, taking up most of the sky.

Nabiki thanked her mother, who must have put in a
good word for her to get this transfer.

"Human Nabiki?" A gentle baritone voice spoke
from midair. "Human Nabiki can speak. Require
input from Owner/Operator."

"I get servants in the afterlife?" Nabiki smiled
and lazed back in the warm waters. She *had* made
it to the good place. Or was this a test? Slaves
in Heaven didn't sound very likely. "My name is
Nabiki Tendo."

"Designating Nabiki Tendo." The voice sounded
curious. "Nabiki Tendo is fiancee of Ranma
Saotome, does Self understand correctly?"
--------------------------
Kasumi stretched. The forcefield had collapsed
and she'd been surrounded. Then she'd found
herself in the tiny room with razor sharp spikes
all around. The walls had been closing tighter and
tighter. Then they'd stopped and started moving
apart. The wounds on her body had slowly closed,
revealing new flesh behind.

"Kasumi Tendo," a child opened a door to the room
that hadn't been there earlier. "Kasumi Tendo, I
have some questions for you. Please come this
way."

Kasumi felt a moment of embarassment at being
naked in front of this child, followed a moment
later by the child handing her a white cotton
robe. She stopped as she looked into the eyes of
this child and realized that, appearances aside,
this wasn't a human child.

"Kasumi Tendo? Does Self understand that Kasumi
Tendo is prospective lifemate of Ranma Saotome?"

"The term is fiancee," Kasumi blushed slightly.
Then her eyes opened in wonder as she stepped
outside the box. A garden stretched to the
horizons. The riot of colors were dazzling and
twin moons could be seen hanging in the sky above.
"Where?"

"The Thiskul homeworld. Gau's estate."

"Oh my. How pretty." Kasumi stared around her
with a smile.
---------------------------------
Shampoo cracked her eyes open and noticed that
she was no longer in the process of being eaten.
This was evaluated as a Good Thing. She'd fallen
in battle against one Thing, then been attacked by
that shapeless thing that had begun flowing over
her and dissolving her. Now she was on dry land
being watched by a child.

The little girl looked her over with solemn eyes.
"<Shampoo of the Nichieju, I need to ask you a few
questions.>"

Noting that she was still missing both legs and
an arm, Shampoo laid her head back down against
the ground with a sigh. "<I do not seem to be
going anywhere for awhile. Where am I? This odd
jungle?>"

"<Robinson's Forest on Taivor IV. It's a nature
preserve, sort of.>"
---------------------------------
Ah, Nabiki thought to herself, it *was* a test.
Entrance exams for Heaven. Well, it was always
hard to get into the really good clubs. Lying
would probably be a *bad* thing. "I am one of the
potential fiancees for Ranma. We were trying to
get that resolved when that thing attacked. My
sister and I, and apparently some Amazon named
Shampoo all consider ourselves to be potential
fiancees."

"Nabiki Tendo wants to be Ranma's lifemate?"

Nabiki paused, but figured that it was all over
now anyway. "Yes, oh and can you raise the water
temperature another five degrees? Oh yes, much
better. Actually I'm the one who would have won
this little battle, since I *was* the best one for
him."

"Why does Nabiki Tendo want to be Ranma's
lifemate?"

Now that she was dead, Nabiki felt more at ease
about herself. Ah, to look back on one's life and
realize how much foolishness had been in it. "He's
good-looking, mature, strong, intelligent, and
most definitely *not* boring. He's *so* clueless
about some day-to-day things but treats the
impossible as commonplace. I can turn a profit off
of almost anything he does, but frankly he makes
the monetary system tremble at his presence. What
is money but security and the ability to get
things? With Ranma and his technology, he bypasses
the whole yen thing for the most part. Who needs
billions to get a nice house when someone like
Ranma can rebuild a mountain into a palace?"

"Why should Ranma choose Nabiki Tendo out of the
three candidates?"

"I'm the best choice, quite simply." Nabiki
didn't bat an eye. "The Chinese girl's from a
primitive village who can't appreciate what just
that holographic marble of his represents. All she
sees is a strong warrior. Kasumi doesn't have a
clue about the problems this Ranma will run into.
Which leaves me, the person who can learn to
operate these devices."

Nabiki paused as an island formed nearby, she was
now drifting peacefully in a warm lagoon lit by
the massive planet above. Something began to
register. "This isn't the Afterlife, is it?"

"No," a child appeared on the shores of the
lagoon. Interaction with the Human units had been
analyzed and a few more changes implemented. His
gaze was curious as he watched her try to cover
herself. "No, this is a simulation of one of the
resort islands on Garibaldi III, a moon of the
planet Garibaldi in the Seshin star system."

"Why am I here, then? Why did you ask those
questions?" Nabiki wanted to go up there and kick
the child's rear, anger briefly showing on her
features.

"Your consciousness is here while your body is
being repaired. As it is quite painful, I've set
all three of you up in virtual realities while the
process continues. Before you ask, yes, your
sister is all right. At least as much as you are.
You were attacked by a nanopaste that would have
rebuilt you down to the cellular level. Producing
this."

Nabiki held back a scream as she saw the image
appear at the lagoon's edge. "I would have turned
into THAT?!"

"The process was interrupted. Repairs are
commencing. You may note some gaps in your memory,
as data lost there was unrecoverable." The child
shrugged. "As to why those particular questions, I
had requested to Ranma that I be put in either
your care or that of your sister. I may look like
a common databox, but I am a fully formed
Artificial Intelligence. Ranma has been friend and
godfather to me, for all of his typically human
response time. I like him and would like to see
him do well in his Arena retirement. So I have
asked you and your rivals the same questions. This
way I can evaluate the responses and advise
accordingly."

Nabiki continued to stare at the image now
lapping water up from the edge of the lagoon. The
eyes that seemed to struggle to understand the
world around it and failed miserably. Vaguely
apelike, possibly one of the precursors of homo
sapiens. The most horrible thing about the image
was the idea that there was enough of you there to
know how much had been lost. "Kasumi and that
Amazon?"

There were three creatures at the lagoon edge
now. Other than fur color, Nabiki couldn't see a
difference. After a moment, the images faded.

"All are being cared for. Estimate that genetic
code can be rebuilt to 95% of the original."

"What about the other 5%?" Nabiki looked herself
over and couldn't see anything different.

"What would you like?" The child looked at her
with impossibly deep eyes.

"What do you mean 'what would I like'?" Nabiki
began to feel a lassitude creeping over her.
"What's going on?"

"Your body's reserves are being depleted and
you're going into a deeper sleep. When you awake
you'll be ravenous, by the way. As to what I
meant, just that. Think of me as an intelligent
computer, without hands but for the limited life
of the nanobots able to manipulate your genestuff.
A computer from that future that Ranma told you
about, one whose storage capacity is greater than
all the computers in your nation combined. Do you
want to be taller? Stronger? Faster? Would you
like your reflex time measured in picoseconds? It
isn't much for me to tweak your metabolism or make
minor changes. Before you get deep in there, is
there anything you want?"

Feeling sleep overtake her, Nabiki blinked her
eyes open enough. "I just want to understand this
hitech stuff..."

The child nodded and brought the lights down.
"Good enough."
------------------------
Kasumi considered the child carefully before
answering his question. She would never have
spoken like this aloud, it would have been
impolite at least, but as this was some kind of
dream sequence, she didn't have quite the need for
restraint.

"I was watching Ranma as he was going through his
album, and I was listening to him. Not only what
he said but how he said it, and what he didn't
say. It surprised me that despite his apparent
maturity and combat skills, he is quite vulnerable
as a person. There is a great loneliness within
him, a need to care for and about someone."

"Ah, you spotted that, did you?" The child
nodded. "He's lost many friends over many years,
not so much by death as by drifting away."

Kasumi nodded, that was the impression she'd
gotten. "There is a deep need within him to be
able to trust and love someone. Nabiki has always
been very possessive, and sees Ranma mainly as an
object. I believe the Amazon also sees Ranma as an
object. He needs someone who sees him as a person
and can care about him that way." Kasumi nodded.
Obviously as soon as she woke up, she needed to go
ahead and tell Father of her decision.

If only he wasn't so... un-Japanese.
----------------------------
Shampoo tested her regrown legs. The arm could
wait. "<Of course, Ranma is my husband. He's a
strong fighter, quite capable, and the village
needs strong fighters. As the Champion of the
Village, I had begun to despair of finding someone
strong enough to be my husband. Now that I have,
it would be foolish of me to let him go to some
non-warriors.>"

The child looked sadly at Shampoo. "<Neither of
your rivals see the matter like that. They see
other sides of Ranma that you don't.>"

"<It doesn't matter,>" Shampoo said with a sigh.
"<It is the Law, and even if he is not an Amazon,
I am. I must act in a certain way, and I must
marry Ranma. Part of the way I must act is to
eliminate the obstacles to my marrying Ranma.
There are no other choices.>"

"<Fortunately,>" the child said after a moment.
"<I am not so constrained.>"
----------------------------
"Alterations?" Kasumi blinked back sleep,
slumping forward as the weariness rolled over her.
"To me? I can't think of anything I'd want to
change. Maybe if you find something that needs to
be fixed?"

The child listened carefully both to what Kasumi
said, and the deeper roil of thoughts that she
wouldn't have even spoken in a dream sequence and
nodded. "Good enough."
----------------------------
"<If I could wake up even stronger, then that
would be good.>" Shampoo yawned as she staggered.
"<Need to convince husband that he needs to listen
to his wife.>"

"<You won't be able to win like that.>" The child
had calculated the odds and psych profiles and
Shampoo attacking one of the others would not be
viewed in a favorable manner.

"<Shampoo will do whatever she needs to win,>"
Shampoo said, her voice trailing off as she faded
into a deeper sleep.

The child listened and pondered. "<Anything? I
think I can do that.>"
----------------------------
"More please!" Kasumi set the dish aside and
reached for the next one that Ranma handed her.
She was inhaling food at a rate that put Genma
Saotome to shame. Though that was still slightly
more sedate than Shampoo and Nabiki.

"More!" Nabiki did the same.

"Need more!" Shampoo held her dish out, opting
for a refill instead.

"Oh my," said Akane, looking at the huge stack of
dishes forming. "Maybe I should help you cook,
Ranma!"

"No," Ranma adjusted her apron, having rinsed off
the dishes and gotten wet as a result. "Between
Sugar, Cologne, me, and Sash, we've got the
kitchen covered. If you can just bring the food
in, that'd help."

"Aaaaaa! What's wrong with my babies?!"

"Both the initial alteration and the repair were
quite draining. The overall effect is similar to
having gone without food for several days.
Continuing to repair, but additional raw materials
are needed. Hence their appetites." The box on the
table sounded somewhat annoyed. Things were
getting tricky and getting asked the same question
repeatedly was not helping.

"So, Ranma," Akane looked around at the
devastation left in the wake of the attack.
"Exactly how are you going to fix all of this?"

"One crisis at a time, Akane-san, one crisis at a
time."

"More please," said Kasumi, neatly stacking
another dish to the side.

"On second thought, Akane, if you want to help.
Could you take over cleaning the dishes? Hot
water, cold water, shifting back and forth. A
headache I don't need at the moment."

"Okari," mumbled Shampoo as she set aside another
bowl.
------------------------
Thirty hours later, three young ladies woke up to
discover the problems with leaving a
Thiskul-programmed AI with essentially a blank
check and control of nanobots.

"Aiyah," Shampoo held her head in both hands.
"This very very strange!"

Nabiki stared at a wall and twitched
occasionally.

Kasumi amused herself by staring at another wall.
That little pieces of wood and plaster kept
fitting themselves together and fusing into a
rapidly repairing wall was not coincidental.

Akane closed the door to the room, and crooked
her finger at her sensei. "Okay, Ranma, you
promised to explain this. I understand their
genetic code was damaged, and this is only a five
percent alteration imposed by the Box. I
understand Box has its own agenda and likes being
'creative.' I understand all this. Dad still
doesn't, but after seeing Kasumi make the mops and
brooms dance they started hitting the sake. What
exactly did Box do here?"

Ranma sighed and motioned to the table. Cologne,
Sash, Tam Lin, and Sugar were already there.
"Okay, once more. And 5% isn't that accurate. Box
felt that with the one attack, that something
nasty was likely to occur eventually. Artificial
Intelligences of his type are outlawed in the
future by the way. Their processing speed is such
that they can be having a normal conversation with
you, AND be doing a half million other things
simultaneously. In order to give them a measure of
protection, Box took their input and went off on
his own initiative.

"All three got the basic Human Enhancement effect
from an early genengineering project in 2072.
There were hundreds of very practical genofixed
traits in that model, and when it was introduced
it spread through the generations. All genetic
deficiencies and diseases removed, supercharged
immune response and disease resistance, wider
wavelength responsiveness in both hearing and
sight, enhanced metabolic efficiency, control over
pain thresholds and reproductive systems, lots of
little things.

"In addition, Kasumi's psychic potential has been
exploded. Telekinesis, Telempathy (projection and
reception of emotions), I'd say some degree of
Clairvoyance as well."

Akane watched as a featherduster began cleaning
shelves, the objects lifting themselves out of the
way so that they could be dusted under. "Offhand,
I'd say Kasumi's managing to cope. What about the
others?"

"Nabiki apparently wanted to know about using
some of my higher tech items. The problem is that
most people don't know more than the basic minimum
of how something works. Most people in this era
don't know how a telephone works, they just know
what buttons to press. Box didn't feel that was
adequate. Nabiki's trying to deal with the
knowledge equivalant of advanced degrees in
biomechanics and quantum electronics among other
things. Give her a little while and she'll be able
to seal the knowledge off until she needs it.

"Box thought that Shampoo's main problems were
stubborness, a surfeit of pride, and a lack of
ability to see things from another's viewpoint.
Box made what he thought of as 'corrections' on
that design. Once she gets over that, increased
strength and durability were what she asked for
and are in the design parameters."

"So it's powerups." Akane thought for a moment.
"How much of that blue junk is necessary for that
stuff?" Akane momentarily entertained herself with
the thought of bench pressing armored cars,
leaping tall buildings in a single bound, and the
like.

"More than what we've got," Ranma lied. He had
enough troubles as it was. His enhancements were
much more elaborate and powerful, but he could
just see all the problems that would come from
having genetically enhanced teenagers running
about.

There was obvious disappointment from the three
young Amazons. Cologne nodded, she had expected
Ranma to say that whether it was true or not.

"Actually, Self could easily accomplish three
minor upgrades with just the..." Box trailed off
as his sensors registered the chi buildup near
Ranma's hands. "Er, just little stuff."

"REALLY?!" Akane, Sash, Tam Lin, and Sugar
chorused. Genma and Soun, listening to the
conversation from the next room, decided that the
sake they had on hand was not nearly enough.
--------------------
"Akane's back in school today?" The boy slid his
hockey mask down into place.

"Yeah, today's the day things get back to
normal." The sumo wrestler grunted. "That Ranma
guy ain't gonna choose Akane, you read the latest
odds. Akane ain't even in the running."

"And I thought that Saotome guy was supposed to
be smart," said the boxer with a snicker. "Oh,
here comes Akane!"

"What's she doing, just cupping her hands like
that?" The Karate Club champion hadn't seen a move
like that before. Must be something that Ranma guy
had taught her.

"Uhm, are her hands supposed to be *glowing*?!"
The track star decided to move out of the way,
having seen this manuever before. It had been in a
video game.

"ROLLING THUNDERSTRIKE!"

A moment later, sedately, almost swaggering,
Akane walked past the various scattered boys and
entered the school. She wasn't about to be late.
It would not be proper.
--------------------
Soun and Genma entered the kitchen, prepared to
ask Kasumi when lunch would be ready.

Kasumi hummed merrily as she read a book. Eggs
cracked themselves in midair over a mixing bowl.
Another bowl was being stirred by a wooden spoon.
Ingredients danced a conga line as they waited
their turn to be added.

Music began to play from something in Kasumi's
Disney collection.

The two fathers exchanged a glance, and quietly
left. They stopped to watch a bag of koi pellets
waddle out to the pond and shake some of its fish
food out before waddling back in.

"You know, Tendo," began Genma. "This kind of
thing *never* happened when the Master was
training us."

"True, Saotome, very true." Soun's eyes tracked
over the "mecha" that Nabiki was putting together,
the Amazon Sash (still with her nose buried in a
romance manga), the broom sweeping the back steps
by itself, and shuddered.

"At least most of the Amazons are gone off to
open that restaurant."

"Did you hear that Manga No Mori is having a
sale?" Soun smiled as Sash vacated the premises.

Genma sighed. "Well at least it's all over."
Thunder rumbled.

Soun laughed. "Yes, having survived that, we have
nothing to worry about."

Thunder rumbled again. The shrine at the back of
the dojo crashed to the floor. A crow died in
midair and nearly landed at the feet of the two
fathers.

"Strange weather you've got here, Tendo."

"Quite, Saotome, quite."
--------Mimir's Well---------------
Hephaestus shook his head at that comment. "Well
done, Skuld. So tell me, how does it end up? Does
anyone make a choice or do they just leave young
Saotome hanging?"

Skuld looked thoughtful. "Hmmm. Well, this looks
like a scene with major consequence, just under a
year after the last one."
------------------------------------
Ranma didn't look up. "Hello, Ukyou. What's up?"

Ukyou didn't say anything for a few moments,
finally just coming to sit next to Ranma and look
out at the stars with him. Ukyou tried to sort out
whatever she wanted to say, and finally just
decided to go with the moment. "What are you
looking at, Ranma?"

"You see that star there?" Ranma pointed. "That's
the Seshin sun. There are twelve planets in that
system, one is Garibaldi, a large gas giant that
has two habitable moons. Garibaldi III is mainly
tropical ocean with a few islands, thin but
breathable air. Garibaldi IV is frigid, eternally
cold, and has all the factories and heavy
industry."

"You've been there?"

"Yeah. The Galaxy Arena Tour was something the
promoters came up with back while I was still
working off that Slave status. Fighting in a lot
of various environments, but mainly getting
kickbacks from the various offices of Tourism for
showing off their resort areas."

"Oh?" Ukyou paused and noted the way Ranma made a
face as if he'd gotten a bad taste of something.
"So what was the serpent in the paradise?"

Ranma looked at her with a little surprise.
"Perceptive. Nabiki never caught that. The
Artificial Intelligences and Genejin weren't the
only slaves there. It wasn't unheard of for
someone to vanish, never to be found again. Except
that they were there in plain sight, having been
retrovirused or nanobotted to a more pleasing
configuration. The average Joe and Jane discounted
the rumors, of course. But they were there. Slaves
talk among themselves."

"You bought your freedom." Ukyou had heard the
story before, that first night after she'd come
for vengeance against him. Only to find this
fellow with the sad eyes and more than two
lifetimes of experience under his belt.

"It took forty years and then my former Masters
had me on exclusive contract as a gladiator,"
Ranma made a little gesture. "Still, it was a
helluva lot better than being a slave. You don't
forget though, after you've been exposed to the
dark and seamy side of that future paradise."

"So, Ranchan," Ukyou tried the familiar nickname
to see if he still flinched when she said it. He
didn't. "What brings you out here, watching the
stars and remembering the bad times you've gone
through? Why aren't you home with Nabiki or
Kasumi? For that matter you seem to get on fairly
well with those Amazons."

"Nabiki's spending all her time tinkering
nowadays, she rarely leaves her lab if she doesn't
need to." Ranma paused and sighed. "Kasumi and
Doctor Tofu are now an item, Kasumi's gotten to
the point where she can broadcast calm and
overcome Tofu's little problem. Shampoo, Akane,
and the rest of the Amazons are all back at that
village. Akane wants to meet Mousse's parents."

Ukyou blinked. "You've been dumped?"

"I've been dumped." Ranma flicked a pebble out
into the darkness. "Kasumi finds herself attracted
to Doctor Tofu Ono. Nabiki doesn't want to commit.
Shampoo spends all her time training and
developing her new abilities."

Ukyou nodded and let the silence continue on for
a few moments. "You know, that bit with your
father stealing the yattai..."

"You want to get revenge against me still?" Ranma
glanced back at her briefly, disbelieving. Then he
returned to studying the stars. "I thought we'd
settled that."

"Yeah, well," Ukyou reached out to touch the
shoulder of the guy sitting next to her. "The
yattai was to seal our engagement."

Ranma turned back to Ukyou, his gaze questioning.
Chestnut eyes stared back into his, affirming.

"Ah, then. Perhaps?"

"Perhaps," agreed Ukyou, putting aside the
spatula for now. Maybe there was a better,
happier, option than revenge. She'd have to see.
------Mimir's Well---------
"O-kay," Hephaestus said slowly. "I can see this,
kind of. Nabiki's an engineer and we *do* tend to
get caught up in our work. Especially when
everything's new and exciting. But Kasumi?"

"Ranma was just too weird for her to handle, even
with esper abilities." Skuld shrugged. "Hey, maybe
at the five year mark?"
--------------------------
Garibaldi III, September 12, 1997
Ranma stepped out onto the porch, listening to
the surf gently washing up a few meters away on a
strip of beach. He sipped at the cup of juice in
his hands and smiled at the familiar tart flavor.
He was both hoping and dreading this, but he had
to know. Had his patience and waiting finally
gotten them to the point where they were willing
to open up? He'd spent years selflessly helping,
guiding, assisting, never far from the spotlight
but only spent as little an amount of time IN that
spotlight as he could.

He'd spent decades in the Arena, as slave, as
soldier, as warrior, as entertainer. He was
heartily sick of being center stage.

"What's up, Ranma?" Nabiki stepped out of the
shadows, regarding him for a moment. "You look
pensive."

"You've got the tour business going now, Nabiki.
Kasumi and Doctor Tofu are working in that clinic
in Tokyo. Ukyou's off selling okonomiyaki to
tourists at the beach and is talking about a chain
of stores. Akane's married Mousse and is now
working for the Galaxy Police. Shampoo and her
sister Amazons have a planet where they can expand
and remain isolated at the same time. Pop and
Mister Tendo have their fantasy retirement two
islands over. Everyone has what they wanted."

"Except you," realized Nabiki. She'd been so busy
that she'd only realized she hadn't seen him in a
year when he'd shown up on her doorstep four hours
ago.

"Except me," agreed Ranma. "I wanted to find
peace and have my chance to do what Seyvu and so
many of the others did. Settle down, start a
family, put roots down, and be something other
than the warrior." Ranma wondered if it had
finally come, the chance to love and to be loved.
Not simple sex, but the deep caring that marked
the difference between bedmates and lifemates.
Ranma had set this conversation up with each of
the 'fiancees' - and was down to his last option
now.

"You wanted to be a nurturer, Ranma. You
succeeded." Nabiki gestured around her. "You think
that I could have started a multi-trillion dollar
business on my own? My dreams had been to become a
millionaire. By keeping the hyperdrive and
antigrav technology my little secret, I've made
the equivelant of trillions of dollars. Eventually
others will get working models back where they can
be studied, but it was *MY* work that brought
about the New Age on Earth with offworld
exports/imports and tours. Just the astrogational
data I got from Box allowed ME to 'find' habitable
worlds and stake claims first."

Nabiki watched the man in front of her, noting
that she still couldn't read him very well. She'd
gotten a few letters back when she'd sent everyone
her new address. She started giving out the
details, though she suspected Ranma was at least
as conversant. "Kasumi would have settled down to
be a meek little housewife, maybe to Doctor Tofu,
maybe not. She's able to use clairvoyant
techniques to see what's wrong with someone, and
telekinetically mend wounds or telepathically ask
the tissues to knit together. She and Doctor Tofu
are *revolutionizing* medicine with him just
figuring out what she's doing.

"Akane always wanted to be the dashing heroine.
She *is* now, a respected member of the Galaxy
Police and someone feared by evil doers
everywhere. Mousse has finally gotten over his
Shampoo obsession and is now the supportive
husband to Akane.

"Shampoo wanted a strong husband, but mainly
wanted to be the Champion and a hero to her
people. She *is* - the person who convinced you
and me to find that world and let her people
settle it. They don't have to worry about the
Chinese government or much of anyone. They've gone
from three Amazon villages to an Amazon Homeworld!

"Sash is the exception, she's working with Akane
as a junior partner now. They're quite a team,
too.

"Ukyou wanted revenge against you, and to be the
best okonomiyaki chef in Japan. She's now
performing her craft in front of dozens of
lifeforms and selling okonomiyaki to creatures
that were old before the Home Islands formed!
She's got her restaurant going, and if she goes to
a chain, she'll be selling Japanese food across
the entire Arm.

"You've been responsible for the raising of the
standard of living for billions on Earth just by
what's happened to the Tendo and Saotome clans and
the ripples from THAT. You've not only allowed
each of us to embrace our dreams, we've exceeded
them!

"Isn't that enough, Ranma-kun?"

Ranma looked sadly at Nabiki for a moment, then
shook his head, not trusting himself to speak. He
felt as if something had died inside him, a pain
more cutting than most of those he'd gone through
in his Arena days.

He'd quietly vanish in the morning. Nabiki didn't
get it. Maybe she never would. Even now she
insisted on putting it mainly in monetary terms.
She had her business, she had her money and
knowledge and control. The engineer and the
business woman wrapped up in one. There had been
some closeness, once, but that had faded as her
business took up more and more of her time.

He'd come here to Garibaldi III and Nabiki's
newly built villa in what had been his last hope.
He'd gone through his options, and come up empty.
Each of the potential fiancees had been given an
opportunity. They'd all chosen. Not one had chosen
him.

Kasumi was helping people, the Healer. Akane was
helping people, the Protector. Shampoo was helping
her people, the heroic Amazon. Ukyou had her Art
and her business. Nabiki was the Merchant
Princess, whose empire was measured in territory
and wealth.

And Ranma noted that he was where he had been for
several years, still sadly looking out into the
night. Occasionally still fighting menaces from
space or the future or both.

Still searching, still hoping. Still praying.

Still alone.
-----------------------------------
OMAKE OMAKE OMAKE OMAKE OMAKE OMAKE OMAKE

Soun decided, he had to make some decisions to
keep the dojo afloat. Marriageable age was
sixteen, but one of the Imperial Princesses had
been engaged at ten. Kasumi was sixteen now,
Nabiki fifteen, Akane thirteen. Old enough to
learn about the honor arrangements they'd been
involved in. Two of which could bring wealth in,
the third continuing the Tendo Legacy!
-----------------
RELATIVE CHOICES an Omake, so don't even vaguely
take this seriously.
-----------------
Nabiki blinked. "They're rich, but they live in a
place like THIS?!"

Kasumi and Akane clung to each other as lightning
crackled and a cat howled somewhere nearby. Their
eyes attempted to watch everything at once.
Shadows seemed to move of their own accord.

"Now now, it isn't so bad." Soun shook his head.
"They're just a little eccentric."

All three of the daughters noticed that the
doorbell was a noose. All three of the daughters
screamed when they saw the doorman.

"You rang?"

"Yes, Lurch, tell Mister Addams that I brought my
daughters by to meet the future husband of one of
them. And how *is* Puggsley?"

"Follow me," Lurch moaned.
------------------

"...and just think, one of you can marry Puggsley
Addams and go live in that nice big house, with
all the money, and I'm sure if you ask they'll put
in a dojo." Soun finally stumbled to a halt. If
any of his daughters were listening, it wasn't
obvious.

Nabiki stared straight ahead. She had been pulled
out of the carnivorous plant, but hadn't recovered
from the experience. She occasionally twitched and
shuddered. Soun was ashamed that one of his
daughters was sufficiently far from her stoic
samurai heritage that being nibbled on and viewing
peristalsis from close up had rattled her that
badly. As for the acid burns, why they hardly
showed with her hair combed like that.

Kasumi had her little smile but her eyes were
glazed over. She'd bravely offered to help out in
the kitchen, only to learn that it was far from
the safe haven that her own kitchen was. It had
been a horrifying experience. Even worse had been
being attacked by the entrees. Soun still wasn't
sure what had happened in the kitchen, but he had
noticed the way Kasumi had kept an eye on the
silverware the entire time they were there. And
when that one young girl had said how much she
wanted to serve Kasumi specifically, his eldest
daughter had turned quite pale.

Akane was still jumping at shadows and would
likely have to be pried away from Kasumi at this
point. Soun wasn't sure what it was, but going to
play with Wednesday had apparently been an
unsettling experience. Akane also kept feeling her
neck for some odd reason.

"Well, here we go, this is the second place."

"It's clean," Kasumi noted, a tiny bit of hope in
her voice.

"I don't see any gravestones," Nabiki observed,
but wasn't willing to get her hopes up at this
point. It had only been a day since visiting the
Addams, after all.

"A big house." Akane calmed a little bit. No
spiders visible either. This was a good sign.

"This is where the Chardins live, come on, let's
get lunch here." Soun smiled at the signs of life
coming back to his daughters.
------------------------------
"No, no, no more!" Kasumi's eyes were wild. That
look was mirrored in two other sets of eyes.

"Now now, this is the last one. This way each of
my daughters will be engaged to marry, and
everything will be set." Soun nodded solemnly. "It
was quite difficult for me to track Genma down,
but one of you marrying Ranma will ensure the
Tendo legacy. In fact, this is the most important
of the engagements since it is the oldest and
involves the family property. He's not rich, but
he's supposed to be a pretty good martial artist."

"So, whoever marries Ranma gets our house," mused
Kasumi. Ranma was thirteen. That was way too
young, but all things considered what was a little
age difference?

"So, whoever marries Ranma gets the dojo," mused
Akane. Same age. Gets the dojo. No little sisters
with "play rooms" that had large spiky things and
blades and a fondness for using various venomous
creatures. Like that spider that had been nearly
as big as Akane's head. Okay, he was still a *boy*
but there was a difference between dumb and
ignorant. He could grow up to be something like
Doctor Tofu, you just had to get the caterpillar
to the butterfly stage. And why had Wednesday
wanted her to read that Necrono-whatsit book?

"Is he cute? Doesn't have an extendible mouth or
three foot tongue? Hang around with undead or
carnivorous plants? Live in a house with evil
witches?"

"Yes, the house and dojo. I'm not sure.
Definitely not on the last three. That's him,"
Soun pointed to a thirteen year old boy sparring
with his father. "Now remember, you promised not
to mention the engagement to him until he turns
sixteen." Soun became aware that he was talking to
thin air.

Genma stopped at Ranma's sudden vanishing.

"Mine!" Kasumi pulled at Ranma's right arm. She
had been selfless long enough. Time to stand up
for what was hers. Her kitchen. Her house. Not
being served on a silver tray with plum sauce was
also on that list.

"Mine!" Akane disagreed, pulling at Ranma's left
arm. It was for the dojo, after all. Besides,
Ranma was a martial artist, surely he had more in
common with her than either Picolette or Puggsley.

"Mine!" Nabiki declared firmly, after all she
could make herself rich and didn't need to marry
into wealth. Ranma was into martial arts. Big
deal, Nabiki could deal with martial arts. Iron
corsets and oral surgery and forks being thrown by
an old witch at one place, and the other place had
plants that tried to eat you and food that crawled
off the plate and a little sister that whispered
how you'd look with a little plum sauce and 30
minutes at 350 degrees. As both arms were
occupied, Nabiki tried to pull at Ranma's legs and
succeeded accidently at tugging his pants off.

"Oops," said all three girls, staring at what was
revealed. Fortunately he was wearing boxers that
day. Unfortunately they'd slid a little from
friction.

Genma gave a puzzled look to Soun, knowing that
his old friend wouldn't violate their agreement to
keep the engagement secret until the day they were
to make it official.

Soun rubbed the back of his head. "Must be love
at first sight, ha ha. heh."

Genma accepted that and looked back to where
Ranma trying to pull his pants back on with three
girls still latched onto him. They were arguing
about who got Ranma. Damn, his son must be more
manly than he had thought!

=============
a few notes. the original "King Of Fighters" was
mainly the first few scenes of this story. i got a
lotta feedback from the FFML, most negative.
comments like "Ranma wouldn't have any challenges"
and "self-insert wannabe". that the charges were
ridiculous was apparently ignored by these
senders.
Grey, reluctant incubus, a kind-hearted
mortal transformed to a kindhearted demon through
the actions of others, yet continuing to seek
grace IS my self-insert character. i came up with
him specifically to answer the SI charges. this is
how i treat an SI character. i'm usually kinder to
Akane.
FORWARD TO ROWAN:
you'll also note that there are some
similarities to Rowan's Private Bet #10. (where's
Martin, Rowan?) i can only assume this is not
unintentional, but more power to him. it's
enjoyable. it's fun. that's all my fics have ever
intended to be.
The major differences between the King Of
Fighter/Future Tense Ranma and PB10, and they are
MAJOR differences:
kof-Ranma wants to retire. he's mature, can
rip his way through a Zentraedi battalion, and
knows martial arts techniques that Cologne hasn't
learned. But, as i'd tried to hint in the first
story and i've indicated here, he has a longing
for stability and to be the nurturer instead of
the warrior. there comes a time when the warrior
longs to put aside the sword, and that time has
come for this version of Ranma. What i'm seeing in
Ranma10 is he's still wanting to be in the thick
of adventure. Part of the conflict with kof-Ranma
would have been the desire for a peaceful life vs
adventures that keep hunting him down.
King-of-Fighters/Future Tense isn't slapstick
"Three Stooges" comedy, nor was it even really
intended as comedy at all. More or less straight
SF/F with more psychological elements than
anything else, entire plotlines devoted to being a
stranger in his own homeland and the Japanese are
*very* hung up on cultural minutae. It's the
culture shock that's gonna give him more problems.
The culture he just came from is *DARK* - this is
mentioned repeatedly in the story. You can die and
be resurrected in some circumstances, but life
itself has little value. There's also slavery,
racism, assassins, things which eat other
sentients, and a number of other nasty little
elements. On the other hand, in shining orbital
ten-mile long cities, you don't see the dirt.
Ranma worked his way up from slave, he knows about
the dirt.
lotsa powerups. i'd indicated earlier how i
saw Nabiki becoming sort of a RIFTS Operator or
mechanic, going after power (sort of) and comfort.
Who needs yen when you can do things yen can't buy
for a few thousand years? i'd played around with
the idea of Kasumi The Psychic Girl and frankly
the image of Kasumi pulling off "Mary Poppins" or
other typical Disney magic scenes is just too
interesting.
originally i had Akane the victim of a
telepathic mindworm. Eventually she would have
been freed to become the powerful cyborg
warrior/sidekick/apprentice while Ranma tries to
retire from the whole thing with either Nabiki or
Kasumi. The nasty treatment of Akane got some bad
response, so here she is, seriously underpowered
but treated much more gently. A pity though, as it
is usual in this genre to go for "strength through
adversity" so Akane would have gotten _really_
messed up so that she could be that much a stronge
r character later.
Ranma-10 definitely has the edge in power.
i'd placed Ranma without his armor in the same
level as Son Goku at the end of Dragonball. With
armor, he's just tougher and more adaptable, sort
of like an Iczelion or something along those
lines.

As to Ranma ending up alone. Based on personal
experiences, girls will treat guys like this all
the time. It isn't good, it isn't bad, it simply
is. Ranma's very interest will drive away some,
his strangeness others, and still others will
think nothing at all of using him up and then
discarding him. That's typical "gentle sex"
behavior. Your experiences may be different, in
which case you have my envy.

The FFML version had a Kasumi arriving the next
morning ending, but i thought that this was a
stronger (more realistic) ending without it.
Besides, it's now open for Mirrors Multiplied to
tie-in to it.

SYSTEM NOTES: yes, my C-drive is gone. all the
bits, pieces, notes, etc are gone. i've had to get
a new system (budget? what budget?) and the only
reason i've got a phone is i found someone who
offered to pay the deposit.