(scene:  The CyberX Cafe.  Ranma and Akane sip Italian sodas, 
while Scott looks depressed.)

Ranma:  So, this "Worse" thing.  You ever going to post it?

Scott:  Well I don't normally post things I've not finished yet...

Akane:  I know I'm tired of waiting around...

Scott:  Okay, ok, but you might be sorry...


(Note: the following is a sort of sequel to my previous story 
"Sequence".  It helps to have read that story, but should not be 
absolutely necessary.  The important plot points are: 1) Due 
(apparently) to a poorly-worded wish, Ranma is trapped in a world where 
he was born female.  2) Ranma now has a younger brother, Hikaru, who has the 
Drowned Maiden curse.  3) Ranma still has four fiancees, they're just not 
the same ones.  We join our story in progress as two familiar-looking 
Chinese people show up...)


				WORSE
			by Scott K. Jamison
(Note:  Ranma 1/2 characters and situations created by Rumiko Takahashi; 
Hikaru's given name and looks in female form created by CLAMP; No 
infringement intended.)

				Chapter One
		In Which It Was Not All Just a Dream

	"Make it stop!  Please make it stop!"  But of course it didn't stop.
	Mousse and Shampoo had reverted to shouting Chinese at each 
other.  Ranma had picked up more of that language over the last year or 
so than he'd ever let on, and was able to pick out "idiot", "easy", 
"weak" and "kill".  Not that she couldn't guess what they were talking 
about without those hints.
	Hikaru had recovered from his own shock enough to go into martial 
arts macho mode.  "Hey!  No one kills my sister while I'm around!"
	Which was nice of him to say, but some very diusturbing pictures 
flashed in front of Ranma's eyes, and she knew she couldn't let him 
defend her.  She rose back to her feet, her cheek still burning where 
Shampoo had kissed it.
	"No, Hikaru, I can fight my own battles.  If Shampoo wants a 
piece of me, I'll be more than happy to oblige her."
	"But you're a girl!"
	"I'm n--So is Shampoo!  And we're both a lot more dangerous thyan 
we look."
	Mousse broke off arguing with his countrywoman.  "You speak as if 
you know Shampoo.  Have you been to Joketsuzoku?  I would have thought 
I'd remember such a lovely girl."
	"Hey, that's right, and you knew Mousse's name and that he speaks 
Japanese even before he showed up.  I thought you and Mom had been in 
Nerima this whole time."
	"Um, er, ah..."
	"Shampoo kill now!" said the purple-haired girl, bringing her 
bonbori to bear.
	Now this was something Ranma could deal with.  She took up a 
defensive stance.  Shampoo charged right on in.  Yep, good old 
overconfident Shampoo, thought Ranma as she used the same feint and upper 
kick that had won their first battle a world away.  Of course that other 
battle had been in the open; here in the apartment there was a ceiling in 
the way.
	"Beautiful and strong!" exclaimed Mousse.  "Truly you are the 
bride I have searched for!"
	"I am *not* your bride, Mousse.  Not now, not never!"  Ranma 
leapt up and pulled Shampoo's head out of the ceiling.  "Hey, Shampoo, 
you okay?"
	The Chinese girl was out cold, but nothing looked broken.
	Mousse was embracing Hikaru again.  "Ranma, you will soon come to 
understand that I am the only man for you!"
	"I'm not Ranma, you half-blind twit!" replied her brother, 
planting a foot in the white-robed boy's face.
	At this point, Genma stuck his head into the hall.
	"Are you kids fighting already?"  He saw Mousse.  "Eep!"
	"What is it, dear?" came Nodoka's voice.
	"Nothing, dear, just the kids roughhousing."
	Ranma saw red, and dropped Ranma's head.  "How could you, Pops?  
You sold me like a side of beef!  Have you no shame?  Have you at last no 
shame?!"
	She leapt at her father and started punching.  Genma, startled at 
her vehemence, could barely defend himself, and was soon flat on his back.
	"Stupid stupid stupid old man!"
	Hikaru pulled her off their father.  "Hey, Sis, cool down, 
woulja?  It's not the end of the world."
	Not the end of the world? thought Ranma.  Maybe not your world, 
but it is mine.  My world is gone, replaced by this twisted dream that I 
can't wake up from!  "AAGHH!"
	Mousse cleared his throat.  "It would seem that I've come at a 
bad time.  I'll return to claim my bride when you've all calmed down."  
He leapt back out through the hole Shampoo had made, not bothering to 
take her with him.
	Nodoka appeared, trying to fit a loose lock of hair back into her 
normal neat style.  "What *was* all that screaming about?  Darling, 
you're hurt!  Who's that girl?  And why is there a hole in the wall?"
	One short explanation later--
	"You traded our daughter for *food*!?"  
	"It was the only thing I could think of at the time.  I didn't 
think he'd take it so seriously."  Genma squirmed a bit.
	"Had you forgotten your bargain with the Kunou family?" Nodoka 
asked pointedly.
	"Kunou?"
	"You know, the one that engaged me to that Tatewaki clown?" put 
in Ranma.
	"Oh, is that the boy's name?  By George, you're right, I had 
forgotten about that."  Nodoka frowned, and Genma blanched.
	"I'm sure something can be worked out, dear."
	"And who is this young woman, then?"
	"Her name's Shampoo, and she wants to kill me because Mousse 
wants to marry me.  And if she wasn't serious before, she will be now."  
Ranma applied an ice pack to the Chinese girl's forehead.  Even though 
she was lethal awake, Ranma couldn't help remembering how cute and 
affectionate she could be.
	"But you beat her!" said Hikaru.  "That should mean she leaves 
you alone, right?"
	"*sigh* Don't I wish."  Ranma rifled Shampoo's pockets and found 
what she was looking for.  "this is the Amazon rulebook.  Check out page 
12." 
	"I can't read Chinese." replied Hikaru.
	"Neither can I, and we *know* Pops can't, but the third column is 
the Japanese translation."
	"Oh.  Lessee, 'If an Amazon is beaten by an outsider woman, she 
must track down and kill the one responsible for this defeat.'  Ooh, 
nasty, But why didn't you let me take her?"
	"Next paragraph."
	"...But if she is beaten by an outsider male, she must marry him 
so the village will have strong children.'  Yuck!  She'd actually marry 
some guy just because he beat her up?  You can sure tell these rules were 
made up by some stupid girl."
	Ranma glared at him.  Shampoo stirred but did not wake.
	"You seem to be pretty conversant with their customs, Ranma.  
Where did you learn all this?"
	"Um, well, I'm doing a report on the Amazon Village for Women's 
Studies class.  It's amazing what you can find on the Internet."
	"I should have known it would take a connection to fighting to 
get you to study." said Nodoka, apparently convinced.  Genma was too 
intimidated by the women of his family to dispute anything, but Hikaru 
was clearly unconvinced.  Of course, he'd heard the most.  Ranma made a 
mental note to get cracking on that report.
	"But what are we going to do about her?  Perhaps we should call 
the authorities."
	"No!" said Ranma.  "She'll just come gunning for me again later.  
She can stay in my room tonight, and I'll try and convince her to leave 
in the morning."
	"What if she--"
	"She'll wake me up to kill me.  Sense of honor and all that.  
Once she does, I can handle her."
	Her mother looked puzzled and worried, but Hikaru nodded.  "I 
guess you can at that.  Scream if you need me."  He headed off to his 
room. 
	"Are you quite sure...I see you are.  We're all a stubborn lot, 
aren't we?  Very well.  Your father and I have things we need 
to...discuss."  Ranma didn't envy Genma one little bit at that moment.
	She made Shampoo as comfortable as possible on her futon, and 
leaned back to try and relax.
	The Chinese girl appeared to be dreaming.  She murmured "Shih-shih."
Father.  Ranma remembered that he'd known her father briefly, when he'd 
worked at the Nekohanten trying to get the cure for the "full-body cat 
tongue".  That had been the first time he'd gotten stuck in girl form, at 
the worst time to be a girl, too.  It was a painful memory.  Shampoo's 
father, Ranma didn't even recall his name, had been a quiet type, always 
subservient to Cologne.  The old bat had sent him back to China after 
about a month, and Mousse had taken over many of the same duties.
	Thinking of Mousse made Ranma shudder.  The way he'd been 
obsessed with Shampoo in the real world--
	Wait a minute.  There was something wrong with that picture and 
Ranma couldn't quite put her finger on it.  So she started to think.
	Thinking wasn't her strong point, so it took a while.  She 
remembered buying a birthday present for Akane, the collision with Kunou, 
the argument with his uncute fiancee, and the fatal wish, "--I wasn't 
engaged to any girls!"  The supposedly non-wish-granting ring 
glowing...Ranma wondered if you could get refunds for false advertising 
in another reality...waking up as female from birth, and all the changes 
stemming from that.
	Ah!  She felt she was getting close to the nub of the problem.  
Okay, a second child because Genma wanted a son, not going on that 
training trip because Hikaru went instead, Akane friendly towards her 
because they weren't being forced to marry each other, so far so good.  
No engagement to Ukyou either, so no broken heart with all the stuff that 
had done to her.  And instead Ranma was engaged to (Yuck!) boys, 
including Mousse.
	Back round to the relationship between Mousse and Shampoo.  And 
there was the part that didn't make sense.  Everything else was more or 
less logically the result of a single chromosone change from Y to X.  But 
the Chinese pair's relationship had been fixed in place at age three in 
their remote village.  Ranma's current gender shouldn't have had any 
effect on it whatsoever.
	And yet it seemed that now Shampoo chased Mousse, not the other 
way around.  Most curious.  Ranma chewed over the implications and what 
she could do about them for a while, then nodded off.
	Ranma was awakened in the wee hours by Shampoo stirring.  She 
peered through "closed" eyelids as the Chinese girl approached, then 
poked Ranma with a bonbori.  "Time to d--"
	With the speed that was a trademark of Saotome Style martial 
arts, Ranma struck, putting Shampoo in a double leg lock that not only 
pinned her arms, but would snap her neck if she tried to move them.
	"Finish.  Shampoo not afraid die."  Her eyes said she was lying.
	"I don't want to kill you, Shampoo."
	"Must kill or die."  Her Japanese seemed a bit better than her 
first visit in the real world.  That might make this easier.
	"I won't tell Cologne if you don't."
	"Ranma know Great-Grandmother?"
	"It's along story, and you wouldn't believe it.  I'm going to let 
go now, okay?"
	Ranma flipped over and released.  both girls landed on their feet.
	"Why for you nice Shampoo?"
	"It's a very long story.  Now, which is more important to you, 
following the rulebook exactly, or doing things right."
	"Um...do things right...but Shampoo no break Amazon laws."
	"Okay, now you're doing this because you want to marry Mousse, right?"
	"Right."
	"Now, I don't want to marry Mousse.  My father had no right to 
sell me to him.  So the important fight is still open, and you can still 
win.  But your opponent isn't me, it's Mousse."
	"Shampoo no get."
	"The only one who thinks Mousse should marry me is Mousse.  So 
all you have to do is change Mousse's mind."
	"That hard.  Mousse very stubborn."
	Don't I know it, thought Ranma.  "Yes, it will be a great 
challenge.  Only the best Amazon warrior could pull it off."  That ought 
to do it, appeal to her pride.
	"Shampoo do it!  Shampoo strongest warrior!  Ranma smart, like 
Great-Grandmother." Her smile was back, making her as cute as ever.
	"One more thing before you go.  Let me show you a quaint Japanese 
custom.  We call it 'using the door.'"
	With Shampoo safely outside, Ranma slumped gratefully back to sleep.

			To Be Continued


SKJAM!
(Official Blasphemer of the Church of Azusa)