[Ranma/Xover][FanFic] The Bet: Reluctant Bet segment 15 "Reluctant Ranma"
Gregg Sharp
Reluctant Bet, segment 15, by gregg sharp
"Reluctant Ranma"
DISCLAIMER: Some ideas and characters originated with other
people. In their case, i'm just trying to put in a new twist
on their tales.
-------------------
Jared snapped his fingers as he regarded his "little
sister."
Urd, Belldandy, and Makoto watched as the "Saotomes" had a
private talk.
"Oh, one last thing. I didn't *just* seek you out to haul
you out of trouble, you know. Here." Jared swept a simple
white cloak lined with deep green out of his bag and
fastened it around Ranko's neck. "That's the same kind of
cloak I gave to each of the Sailors back... well, back when
we were all together. This is pretty much all an adventurer
needs to cover the basic of slogging between dungeons. It
will always keep you dry, warm or cool as appropriate. The
fabric is invulnerable to dirt and most forms of harm, but
the protection it provides you is limited, so don't go
trying to use it as a shield.
"You can always sleep as well as if in a large, comfy bed
while wrapped in it as that's one of it's powers, and it's
lining has twelve pockets. One of those pockets will refill
every day with a quart jug of cool water, a quart of cold
apple cider, and a hunting knife. One other will prove you
various foodstuffs in tasty variety. The food's varied
enough and sufficient to go a very long while on nothing
else. But you'd suffer if this were your only source of
water, so use the other pockets to store stuff you might
need. They hold about a cubic foot each without weighing you
down. As with the other cloaks it will render you invisible
at need, and you can tell it to change it's shape and color
to a limited degree. So turn it into a cape, jacket,
raincoat, windbreaker, suit coat, fur wrap, whatever's
appropriate to the place and time you're in." He smiled.
"Oh, and it has all the standard anti-theft enchantments,
which range from discouraging to absolutely lethal in
increasing stages as needed. And this *particular* model has
been set up to work only for you, and in fact, cannot be
removed. It will store itself in its own personal stuff
space when you don't want to be wearing it."
Makoto spoke aside to Urd. "If this is what comes from
being friends with an archmage we've got to get to know
some."
Urd smirked. "I see your point."
Jared glanced at the pair of them, smiling, then removed
two blue leather tubes from a pouch, matching the pair he
wore as bracers on his arms. He began fastening the new set
around Banana's forearms. "These are basic weaponbracers.
They each hold a limited amount of weapons available for
your personal use. Just hold the weapon you want and think
of the bracer and you'll get the hang of putting them away.
Bringing them out is as easy as forming your hand as if you
were already holding it and mentally calling the weapon you
want out. For ease of remembering when you put a weapon away
in storage it's image appears on the bracer, embroidered in
silver thread. Each bracer will hold up to six hands worth
of weapons of any kind. If you can comfortably use it with
one hand, that counts as one hand of storage. Stuff like
bows and quarterstaffs, halberds and the like require two
and store accordingly. Like the cloak, the bracers are
practically immune to everything. But they're not rigid, so
if you try and block a blow with them you'll only buy
yourself grief as they transmit the shock. These work only
for you and will store themselves as the cloak. But while
you can change their color, bracers are still pretty much
bracers. I recommend hiding them under long sleeves if you
want them concealed." He shrugged. "A poor substitute for
Hidden Weapons Style, but they'll do."
Ranko frowned, wondering if she could come up with some way
of making them prettier.
The mage then hauled a massive weapon out of one of his
pouches. "This is the M41-A pulse rifle, with over and under
pump action grenade launchers. I'll give you a dozen spare
clips in a bandoleer and ten thousand rounds of the
standard, light-armor piercing, explosive-tipped,
caseless. Then another twelve clips, friction coated so you
can tell them apart in the dark, a different belt, and
another ten thousand rounds of what we call Spookbuster
ammunition. Half pure silver swirled with half cold-wrought
iron and imprinted with tons of runes and blessed, it ought
to be able to hit nearly anything supernatural. Then one
enchanted clip that just holds standard lead caseless, but
refills itself every so often so you can practice. Flight
characteristics of all of the rounds have been laboriously
kept close to the same, though you'll find Spookbuster shots
a little lighter." He handed it over, along with a bag and a
small pistol. "Now none of these are insured against theft
or anything, so try to keep careful. The pistol is a short
range stunner. No big deal, but sometimes you need those.
That and a hundred grenades that are about shotgun shell
sized and can either be fired with the rifle or flipped and
flung by hand, and it ought to do you to start."
Ranko struggled under the weight of the items until she
could load them into her bracers.
-------------------------
Heaven:
"Ama-chan! Still got the hots for a mortal? Still trying to
set a few sparks with a substandard Rival Relief Office
worker? Are you still..."
Amaterasu interrupted him, finding being accosted like this
in a plaza distasteful. "SUNFLARE!"
Hachiman wiped ash off his face. "Y'know, I think I liked
it more when you were so shy that someone making fun of you
caused you to lock yourself in a cave."
"SOME of us have changed over the years." Amaterasu
cautioned. "Some of us are ready to move on with things. To
grow up!"
"Well, relatively," Hachiman remarked, putting a small fire
out in his hair.
"EVERYTHING is relative." Amaterasu held her head up as an
arrow slammed into her.
Eros stepped out from concealment, lowering his bow. "Sorry
about that, Amaterasu, but I hit you accidently earlier.
That should have cancelled the effects of my previous
arrow."
Amaterasu frowned. "Yes, it DID work. I'm no longer in
love. No longer have that special little feeling. No more
compulsion, everything's back to normal."
"Thanks, Hachiman, your distraction was just what was
needed."
"It was nothing, Eros."
"SUPERNOVA CASCADE FLARE!" Amaterasu turned from the two
smouldering figures on the street. "Toying with a goddess'
heart is NOT nice. And do you realize how hard it is to find
a guy around here who is NOT a walking ego?"
Hachiman stuck his head up. "She took that pretty well."
Eros groaned an agreement.
-------------------------
Target Timeline:
The young man looked over the crowd before handing them a
business card. "Hello, my name is Skysaber and I'll be your
Ranma for this reset."
Kasumi accepted the card and bowed. "Very pleased to meet
you Skysaber-san. Would you like some tea?"
"Thank you miss Tendo, but I don't indulge."
Nabiki snitched the card and read it, chewing absently on
one of the baked goods brought as guest gifts.
"International Superspy Adventurer? What's the job like?"
Unspoken was the question of how much it paid.
He chuckled softly. "Once you've acquired a certain
reputation the job practically does itself. Evil villains
hear you've arrived and are scared out of the woodwork." He
accepted the card back, tucking it away in a pocket. "The
only hard part is staying alive."
"Is something the matter with Grey-san?" Kasumi appeared
somewhat concerned.
"Yah, I thought he'd be our 'assigned Ranma' again." Nabiki
folded her arms across her chest. Just watching the boy
squirm when she had jiggled had amused her no end.
"Not quite himself at the moment, he ran into some...
difficulties." Jared motioned the redhead forward. "This is
Ranko Saotome. She's... an unfortunate who ran into a string
of bad luck and has the mind of a much younger girl. She's
sort of a backup."
A lionlike creature examined them but didn't smell a trace
of pervert, except maybe on the platinum haired woman. The
cat growled uncertainly at her.
"Akane!" Kasumi held up a pokeball. "Return!"
Jared's eyes got big as he watched the fiery lion get
sucked within a pokeball. "Akane's a pokemon? Kasumi's her
trainer?"
Nabiki shrugged. "It's just the way things worked out."
"I see..." Jared frowned slightly as he caught a glimpse of
the bracers. Some sort of transformation curse, but also
some other stuff he wasn't sure about. Pokemon? Magic
bracers that had weaves of spirit and transformation? Shan
and Sakyo he knew, but Shampoo and Ukyo were apparently
getting along with the Tendos?
"I've done backups of Kasumi, Nabiki, Ukyo, and Shampoo,"
said Sakyo. "I've asked Shan to open a gateway to another
plane so that I can gain some additional experience and gain
more templates. If that is all right with you?"
"Why do you need MY permission?" Jared didn't want this to
be another one of Grey's romantic subplots now glomping HIM
whenever the opportunity presented itself.
"Sakyo no can dimension hop by self. Shan want airen's
permission before take her. Shan be right back, is okay?"
"Oh, all right then." Then Jared had to snag Nabiki's
collar when Shan opened the gateway just to keep Nabiki from
diving through. No telling what mischief the mercenary Tendo
girl would get into on the other side. "As for the rest of
you, I need to check you over and remove a few spells..."
"Spells?"
"There's Akane's transformation and those cursed bracers.
Anything else I should know about?"
---------------------
Alley of Lingering Smells:
"Sakyo sure about this?"
Sakyo opened the door. "Yes. Geez, they need to air it out
in here a bit."
"Remind Shan of old apothecary or junk shop."
"Yeah, same dim lighting. Same shelves of junk. Except
someone has been cleaning, obviously."
"Hmmm. Shan want to go back to airen. How long Sakyo stay?"
"You can go now Shan. I expect I'll be awhile." Sakyo took
a deep breath before continuing. "You know where I'll be."
"If we meet again, then, sister." Shan hugged Sakyo. "I
understand."
------------------------
Target Timeline:
Nabiki eyed her bracer distrustfully. "What do you mean
'cursed'? I remember Grey saying he wasn't quite sure what
they were..."
Jared tapped Nabiki's bracer thoughtfully. "What do you
know about elemental spirits?"
"Huh?" Nabiki frowned. She didn't like not being in control
of the situation.
"An elemental spirit in its purest form is not really
intelligent in a human manner. Some elementals are slightly
more advanced- almost human intelligence and a sort of
personality. It might be safe to say that a common elemental
of that sort is a force with a will. Or maybe a spirit of
nature that has pretensions.
"These bracers were made by a powerful enchanter of some
world where the various forces could contract with
enchanters for a Next Stage, drawing on their human wielder
to gain things they *don't* have. Sort of like being
familiars of a wizard.
"The air elemental turns to Sylph because of a bond with
the owner. At this point the familiar is PART of the
wielder. The problem is that's the second of three stages.
At third stage you merge with your familiar. Kasumi Tendo
and Sylph would merge to produce Djinn - a very powerful air
elemental being."
"It would kill us?" Kasumi looked sadly at her familiar who
shook her head in negation.
"No, if I've got this right, and your elementals all agree
on it, the personality they're manifesting is from you.
Elementals of their world have no individuality. That's one
of the things they gain through these deals. Your elementals
would become part of you. And the worst part is that it
wouldn't take much before this next stage occurs. Naiad
tells me that you're pretty close to that point now,
Shampoo."
Shampoo frowned. "But Shampoo would still be Shampoo?"
"But you'd be Shampoo the Marid." Jared finished scribing
the final line on the floor. "Changing race to that of a
Genie of Water, a considerable powerup by most standards.
You would no longer be human, but some of your powers would
let you pass yourself off as one. The hard thing to peg is
how much it'd change your mental state. Some people who go
through similar things emerge practically intact, the worst
they get are a few quirks. Others can't handle it or the
circumstances aren't ideal and they get driven mad, or
worse."
The Naiad made a few splashing noises, to accompanying nods
from Knightshade, Pyriad, and Sylph.
"Ah, I see. So your elementals are telling me that they
think you'll just become as one, though they admit they've
never done this before. Their current intelligence and
personalities are copies of your own, so there IS a lot
they're not sure of."
He raised his head to check Nabiki's aura, first through
magic, then by chi. "As a minor side note do you know that
you have the potential to do magic? Just thought you should
know. Oh, and as far as the merging. Shampoo, this isn't a
*bad* case. The elementals you'll be bonding with have no
personality they didn't take from you, so other than a few
quirks related to your element you'd be largely unchanged.
Kasumi will probably soon want to live in a house she can
blow clean with whirlwinds and you may start hanging around
the bottom of lakes, that sort of thing. The only *big*
disadvantages for you are the special hinderances of
genies."
"Such as?" Nabiki probed.
"Vulnerability to knowledgable persons, attraction of
certain types who'll attempt to capture you to force you to
serve, the inability to marry a mortal male without a
special magical contract and binding. Also what you'd regard
as weird or abnormal may pretty much become your way of
life. Genies are fairly powerful, they draw attention from
many angles.
Not the least of which is guys who'll attempt capturing you
to force you to give wishes. On the *plus* side, genies of
Air, such as Kasumi would be, can create certain amounts of
food, cloth goods, and wood just out of thin air. So
furniture, throw rugs, beautiful garments, etc. They can
also create metal, but that's temporary. Shampoo would be
more powerful, but in a different way."
The mage refocused his smile. "Then we come to you, Nabiki.
There is no Genie of Shadow. Your elemental says differently
but the worlds *I* am familiar with don't have them. The
closest I could think of would be a Shade, a man who's given
his soul for shadowstuff, and I can't think of anything to
recommend it. They heal from injuries quickly, and can
regenerate limbs lost in battle. They are tricky to detect
and can teleport from shadow to shadow, making them perfect
spies. But all that I know from killing them, they aren't
nice sorts. Most become murderers, all are gloomy and
brooding. Having children becomes impossible and while that
might not matter to you now you'll be surprised when you
discover later how much it does. Also nobody ever trusts a
shade, not even other shades. There's just something creepy
and off-putting about them. So they wind up most often
serving evil masters even if they weren't completely evil to
begin with, one reason why I've killed so many. Oh, and
bright light and complete darkness *both* reduce their
abilities. Frankly I'd recommend most anything else you
could become, really."
He patted Nabiki's arm. "There's no certainty that you'd
become a Shade, but I can't think of what else it would be.
Of cautionary note, I don't know of anything from the plane
of shadow that's happy. But, you *would* be the perfect
thief and spy, assassin if you were of that bent, and having
no allies or persons to call friend isn't atypical for you,
so it may be the ultimate perfection of the route you
normally travel anyway."
Nabiki reacted as if stung.
Knightshade seemed to be ready to dispute this, but the
only non-elemental present who could understand her was the
Pheonix Mage, so the argument never reached Nabiki.
"Okay, anybody object or do I turn Akane human again?"
Urd could see the thought occur to him. "Yes, you need to
transform Akane back. If they do a Reset with her like that,
it'll be a world where Akane is actually their pet dog or
something. LOT of variables. And since that's further from
the mainline..."
"It's not in keeping with the mission." Jared glanced at
the pokeball in Kasumi's hands. "A pity as she's much better
behaved that way."
The phone rang. Kasumi set down the pokeball to go answer
it, only to come back and get Belldandy.
When Belldandy returned, it was to see that Akane was
looking somewhat dazed but back to human. "That was the
Office. Reset was moved up to two minutes from now."
"WHAT?!" This came from Ukyo, Shampoo, Kasumi, and Nabiki.
Hair was toinging everywhere.
"Oooo. That was some dream..." Akane looked around. "It WAS
a dream, wasn't it?"
--------------------
Heaven:
"What about if we just re-insert and backtrack Ranma now?"
Amaterasu looked up from her sulk.
"Simulations are running that it'll merge with one of the
'Ukyo doesn't get left behind' timelines. Alternatively, we
run it without re-inserting Ranma and we have a timeline
where Ranma died early in the training trip. Akane
eventually marries Tatewaki Kuno, Nabiki shakes the wrong
person down for money and is never found, Kasumi becomes an
old maid with Doctor Tofu never getting over that problem of
his, Shampoo develops a relationship with a Healer named
Razor until Mousse kills his rival, followed by Shampoo
killing Mousse. Lotsa problems."
"Bookmark it anyway," advised Mambo Jack as he looked
between the two sun gods. "We ready?"
"Now," Amaterasu and Apollo turned their keys
simultaneously.
---------------------
Target Universe <RESET>:
Jared slowly unscrunched from the wince. The blurring and
shifting hadn't been difficult to deal with. If you hadn't
known what it was, it would have merely been a moment of
vertigo and a stomach wrenching sensation of dislocation.
Withstanding the screams had been the difficult part for
both Ranko AND Jared.
"They're not dead, no matter what they thought," Urd said
dismissingly.
"Where are we, big brother?"
Jared shook his head at Ranko/Banana. "Looks like we got
bumped to about a mile from Jusenkyo."
"RANMA! What are you up to, you lazy... boy?" Genma came
running up to stare at his son and the odd crowd.
Jared smirked. "Let me guess, 'Pop' you've finally located
this wonderful training site for us to go visit."
"That's right." Genma drew a deeper breath. "WHO ARE
THESE..."
Urd had walked lazily up to the older man and stared him in
the eyes. Genma's eyes went glassy. "I don't like yelling.
This is your son Ranma, your lovely and talented daughter
Ranko, and three of the fiancees you've arranged for your
son. Their names are Belldandy, Urd, and Makoto."
"You're both going to be fiancees?" Jared questioned.
"Sisters wouldn't really work in our case," explained
Belldandy.
"You are also going on a diet."
"Uhnn." Genma started shaking his head.
Jared snorted. "THAT was pushing it."
"One can dream," Urd said, stepping back.
Genma blinked and the glazed look faded. "Errr. Right.
Ranma! Come along, we must get to Jusenkyo before it gets
dark!"
Ranko fluttered her wings and blinked. "That's my Dad?"
"Yes," Jared hissed the last syllable and motioned Urd
nearer.
Ranko's eyes swam with tears and she launched herself.
"PAPA-SAN!"
"She isn't faking this, is she?"
"I'll see if I can get a call into the Office over his
laptop." Urd shrugged. "It doesn't look like it though. Just
a guess, something NASTY happened recently... No, if it were
that..."
"You thought of something?" Makoto proved she was
eavesdropping.
"If it was what I'm thinking, it could be REALLY bad. As in
don't try to bring him out of it unless you want to mop up
the pieces." Urd quickly crossed to Ranko and asked to
borrow the nice computer.
"Well, it could have been worse," sighed Urd after she
spent some time sending e-mail.
"What and how?"
Urd looked up at Skysaber out of the corner of her eyes.
"What do you think Grey would have done back in that
situation?"
"With a panicked Nabiki and Kasumi begging to be taken off
this timeline? And with Ukyo and Shampoo ready to start in
if it looked like it had even a *faint* chance of working?"
Jared chuckled. "He would have caved when the waterworks
started."
"Which meant that when the timeline reset, they wouldn't
have been a part of it." Urd nodded. "Which would have
either had NO explanation, or it would have altered the
timeline so that they had all died or left the area."
"Destabilizing it further." Jared sighed. "Going to share
what you think it might be that's causing Grey to become
lost in the Ranko role?"
"Not yet. I'm hoping I'm wrong." Urd shuddered. "You *do*
realize that these Knights are the very same ones who put
contracts out on you and a few others through that Spells R
Us store."
Jared came to a complete stop, causing Makoto to stumble
into him. "If I run into them, I shall have to come up with
something more nasty and degrading than I did to that
governmentally sanctioned thief Redrin Pigeontoed."
"Can I help?" Urd asked sweetly.
"You just might."
----------------------
An SMJ Timeline:
Baiko and Tamasaburo, the elite marionettes charged with
protecting the Emperor and Japoness, escorted the girl to
the lab.
"Doctor Lorelei, I have returned to speak to you."
"I..." The only human girl on the planet (not counting
mongrelized clone 'daughters' of herself that were still
only six months into their development) seemed a bit
nervous.
"Don't worry, Doctor. I am not here to punish you for
collecting those hairs. Though the Pheonix Mage might feel
otherwise, I know you're just trying to widen the genetic
samples of the human race on this planet so as to avoid
problems down the road."
Lorelei sighed out, relieved. "Then why ARE you here?"
"To make a deal." Sakyo tilted her head to the side. "Is
he..."
"I trust Gennai-ojiisan completely. Baiko and Tamasaburo
are dedicated to the welfare of Japoness. You can speak
freely, though there is not much I can promise."
"You undervalue yourself, Doctor." Sakyo nodded. "I
observed things while I was here and there are two things I
want from you, and if you agree, I will use some items I've
hidden as well as my personal knowledge to upgrade your
marionette factory to a tech level centuries ahead of what
it is now."
"Uhm..."
"As you would not buy something sight unseen, I offer
this." Sakyo reached into a sleeve and withdrew a metal
disc. "You may test it, of course. It is a functioning
'otomo kairo' or maiden circuit using engram technology.
Installed in a marionette, it would allow for emotions as
well as independent action. Like the circuits you are
familiar with, it would allow the marionette to 'learn to be
human' or at least act the part supremely well."
"How do you know it will work? And WHY?"
Sakyo pointed at her own head. "Doctor, I am a cyborg whose
organic parts are cloned from a mother, with mechanical
parts not unlike your own marionettes. One reason I feel
sympathy for your situation here. One of my main purposes
was repair of both my own functions and those of my sister,
Shan. That is how I know this will work, and is part of why.
The other part of why is that there was recently a
programming fault in my sister - affecting the organic
portions that I cannot repair. Which is why now."
Lorelei chewed her lip briefly while staring at the disc.
What the other was offering was a powerful lure. "What is
your price for this help?"
Sakyo held up one finger. "First, I want to be able to
craft some elite models that will also serve as test
productions. These will be of somewhat higher quality than
the general production types that you will eventually craft.
Much like Baiko and Tamasaburo are of higher quality than
the Sabre Marionette O types that you use as palace guards.
With Shan's defection, and without being able to determine
exactly how this occurred, it becomes obvious that the same
thing might happen to me. My Master has been abandoned or
left alone too many times, I would prevent this occurring if
at all possible.
"Second, I have the ability to scan individuals and form
templates which will allow me to duplicate their form and
knowledge. I choose you, Doctor Lorelei. If you are willing
to make copies of me, it is only fair that I be allowed to
copy you."
--------------
Target Universe:
"Ah, sirs, welcome to 'Training Ground of Cursed Springs -
Jusenkyo.'"
Urd popped out a little fan and began fanning herself.
"Okay, we've seen it. Can we go home now?"
"Ranma! Follow me!" Genma leapt onto one of the bamboo
poles.
Ranko and Makoto took to the air, curious about this place.
"I'm listening to the Guide, old man." Jared bowed to the
Guide. "So tell us, is this indeed the terrible place of
legend?"
Genma started getting angry. "Ranma! Come battle at once!"
"Sir, you no want to go up there. Terrible tragic story if
you fall in spring!"
"RANMA! Are you WEAK like some GIRL to shirk training!"
Jared raised a hand. "Ha do ken!"
*BOOM* *SPLASH*
"Meowf!"
Jared paused. Wasn't that supposed to be "growf" or
"hurr-ha" or some other panda-ish sound effect? Puzzling
over this he swatted away some housecat that was attacking
him for no apparent reason.
"Sir fall in spring of drowned..."
*SPLASH!*
"...never mind."
"Ba-kawwww!"
"Ooooo! I wanna try!" Ranko swooped down and tossed the
raven into another spring. "Papa is so funny!"
Jared frowned again. Genma = funny. No, this did not
compute.
"Squuueeee! Buqiii!"
"I want to try this," Makoto flipped a little black pig up
almost to orbital level.
Ranko sped up and tried to catch the porcine missile but
missed and ended up crashing into the woods off to the side.
"Owie!"
Jared heard the whistling noise of something approaching
the ground at near-terminal velocity. He placed his hand
out, fingers spread wide.
"Octroi's wall,
Protect us all.
Wall Of Force."
*SPLOOOSH!*
"Very terrible tragic story," the Guide began, having had
time to see where the pig would land. "Sir land in Spring Of
Bishojo Bride. Terrible tragic story of beautiful young
girl, chased by bandits, who drown in spring before she get
married. Terrible tragic sirs. Now whoever fall in spring
become beautiful young housewife type."
"GENMA! You are SO inconsiderate!" Jared frowned at the
meek-looking young lady slowly picking herself out of the
spring. "Hurry up and get in the right spring!"
"SON! HOW COULD YOU?!" Genma paused. "And just LOOK at my
clothes!"
*ZAP!* *SPLASH!*
"Growf?!"
"Which spring is the right spring," asked Makoto, blowing
smoke from her fingers.
"THAT would be the one, actually."
Genma went into a panic. If he got splashed again, who knew
what would happen? He followed the teachings of Happosai
when confronted by situations like this. Flee!
Jared watched Genma race out the far end of the Valley Of
Cursed Springs. "You just live to make my life miserable,
don't you?"
"He's getting away." Urd frowned. "Hey, Guide. You got any
sake or something in that hut of yours? This may take
awhile."
"If I catch him, I do a 'Flesh to Plush' and MAIL him to
the Tendo dojo!" Jared fumed.
"There, there, Jared-san." Belldandy smiled at him. "I'm
sure it will turn out all right."
"Bell-chan, can you keep an eye on your sister? Makoto, can
you give a hand?"
The air rippled. Shan stepped out, hovering in midair. "Did
I miss anything?"
--------------
Ryoga trudged along, grumbling softly to himself. How dare
Ranma run out on a fight?
A panda interrupted his musings, proving that attempts to
return the timeline to a stable pattern were having SOME
effect.
"Aaaiiiiii!" Ryoga went over the edge, shoved aside by the
panda as it ran. He caught a quick glimpse of a redhaired
boy and a pony-tailed girl who were chasing the panda. Ryoga
started to twist, realizing that his only chance was to aim
for water.
"GOT YOU!"
Ryoga blinked. He wasn't falling? Ryoga looked up to see
that a girl had grabbed his trailing leg and her wings were
blurring as she tried to remain aloft.
"Uhhnnnn," the girl groaned as she slowly began regaining
altitude. "You don't wanna fall down there..."
"Miss? You've got wings?" Ryoga couldn't help but ask even
as he realized it was straining everything she had to keep
rising.
"Uhnnn," the girl said through gritted teeth before
dropping Ryoga on the grass. "Haveta (wheeze) catch my
breath before (groan) I catch up with them..."
Ryoga was fascinated by the way the girl's chest heaved
from her exertion. "Uhmmm."
"Don't (pant) fall in (gasp) the pools." The girl managed a
weak smile. "Need to..."
Ryoga waited a moment as the girl caught her breath, then
caught a glimpse of her fangs. She had fangs like he did!
Was this some relative he didn't know about previously? A
moment's reflection provided the detail that he'd never met
any other relatives, but that could easily be explained by
everyone getting lost.
Then he finally noticed the wings and wondered if there was
ANOTHER explanation.
"Look, gotta go." The girl grinned at him. "Looks like
oniichan needs to calm down some. Maybe he needs to switch
to 'caffeine free' sodas, ne?"
Ryoga watched the redhaired girl fly away, feeling his
heart pounding in his chest. Vampire or not, she'd just
saved his life. And Ryoga Hibiki ALWAYS paid his debts,
whether it was punishing Ranma or finding a way to repay
some vampire girl...
------------
Weird ideas section:
The downside of those bracers.
A hint or two about more secrets on Terratwo.
Genma, the person responsible for the Jusenkyo trip, being
the only one to get cursed.
Some magic items developed by the Pheonix Mage.
BTW: Skysaber's Choice and prev chapters of Reluctant Bet
can be found at:
http://www.pathcom.com/~minazuki/
-----------------------------
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metro...@mindspring.com
"Fill the cup of happiness for others,
and there will be enough overflowing
to fill yours to the brim."
Rose Pastor Stokes