Ok, normally, I'd be killing myself over writing something like this.  But
I would appreciate your comments.  Please?

Alternative Reality #2
by Michael Chen

Yet another Alternate Reality story by moi.
Not to be confused with the current one that I've been writing.  
This is a completely different reality.

I've always had a fascination with Psionic powers, as evidenced by 
my attempts to write Psi.  (I still have writer's block, 
considering my character designs are a little flimsy.)

Character Redesign:
Ranma is alone, cursed.  He tried martial arts with his father, and 
is relatively weak.  His technique and form is excellent, but 
overexertion over a short period of time will leave him weak.  
Result of an accident.  He will be given special powers to 
counteract.  He is more intellectual.

Ranko: His sister.  Always on the look out for her older brother.  
He used to keep an eye on her, but after the accident, it had been 
the other way around.  She's a kickass martial artist.

Ryoga: Ranko's boyfriend.  He also tries to look after Ranma.

China group the same

Soun: About to marry Nodoka

Kasumi: Single as well.  Sort of.  Dating Dr. Tofu, an 
intern/assistant to the doctor in town.

Nabiki: Single, not as much as a money hog as before.  She's bitter 
about fact that Father is remarrying.

Akane: Single, current boyfriend is Kuno.  Going to change.

Genma: He's long gone.  He "died" saving Ranma's life in China.  
Ranma worships him like a god.

Dr. Tofu: 19 and talented physician.  Not a doctor yet tho.

Ryoga: A really nice boy who's interested in Ranko

Mousse: He's torn between loving Shampoo and loving Ranko.

Cologne: She interested in taking Ranko.  Face off with Ranma 
changes her focus.

Chapter 1: Marriage?

    "What!"  Ranma shouted at his mother.  "You're going to 
remarry!"  Ranma stared incredulously at his mother, who looked 
slightly nervous.  Nodoka Saotome, a widow of six years, had 
finally felt that her children lacked a fatherly figure in their 
life, and she had spent a good two years searching for an 
appropriate man.  Fortunately, she had found one.

    But something else was more important.  "Now, Ranma, please 
calm down so I can explain."  Nodoka tried to soothe her only son, 
before anything could happen.  It was not safe to keep Ranma 
agitated for a long time, and with ever second spent not calm, 
Ranma was closer and closer to death.

    Ranko dumped a bucket of cold water on Ranma, which helped him, 
or rather her, to stop shouting.  "Hey Ranma, cool off, or your 
blood pressure's going to go too high."  The combined efforts of 
his mother, sister, and the pail of icy cold water were effective, 
and Ranma silenced his anger.

    Nodoka sighed somewhat in relief.  The doctors had told her 
that her son's recovery from the accident was a miracle, but for 
the rest of his life, he would suffer from a weak constitution.  
She had to admire her son's tenacity to try to resume a life of a 
martial artist.  He worked hard, he practiced, he trained.  

    At first, Nodoka let her son pursue his dreams of becoming a 
martial artist, but after finding him collapsed on the dojo floor, 
she was adamant in not letting him pursue his dreams.

    "Well, we are going to the Tendo's for dinner, and that's final.
  Mr. Tendo is a good friend of your fathers and he is a good 
father as well.  I'm sure your father would be proud to have Mr. 
Tendo raise you."

    Ranma shot his mother a resentful look, before leaving the 
kitchen quickly.  Nodoka's face was that of slight exasperation.  
There was no telling what Ranma was capable of doing when he was 
angered.  Ranko smiled encouragingly to her mother, and followed 
Ranma out the door.  Well, Ranko didn't have to move far, as Ranma 
was already leaning against the wall, gasping for breath.  

    Ranko tried her best to contain her anger.  "Brother, if you 
have a fascination for death, by all means, exhaust yourself to 
death.  Mother and I feel sorry for you, but don't think that we 
are going to sacrifice 100% of our lives to your standards.  Mom 
has always been there to support you, and I think it's about time 
that you helped her.  Don't blow it at dinner time, or ELSE."  
Ranko tried her best to look threatening, but she failed miserably.

    Ranma his entire life had in some way or another looked after 
her.  Before the accident, he kept the bullies away from his sister,
 and on a few occasions beat the stuffing out boys who mocked his 
sister's preference for pants and boy's clothing.  After the 
accident, he helped his sister with her school work.  Ranma made a 
brief laugh, as he watched his sister try to be stern.

    Grumbling a bit, Ranma looked the other way.  "Fine.  I won't 
be rude at dinner."  Ranko smiled a bit.  "Hey, will you quit 
smiling at me? "  Ranma grumbled even more, as he thought of the 
Herculean task of keeping his mouth shut during dinner.  "Well, 
I've got homework to do.  If you need any help, you know I'll be in 
my room."  Looking down at his body, he muttered. "But first, I 
think I'm going to get some hot water."

* * *

    Soun sat uneasily at the head of the table.  He truly didn't 
know what to say, or what to expect.  During the past couple years, 
he felt guilty for lying to his children about his trips and such.  
In truth, he was really dating Nodoka Saotome, the wife of his late 
friend who had died in a tragic accident.  Surprisingly, both of 
them found the other to be rather interesting and a month ago, Soun 
finally scraped up the courage and money to buy an engagement ring.

    Nabiki sounded a little impatient, but nevertheless still 
agreeable.  "Ok, what's the important news?"

    Soun started to talk.  "Well, it's about me in fact..."

    "I'm home!"  Akane entered the room, and looked quizzically at 
her father seated as if he had an important thing to say.  Dropped 
off yet another gift from her boyfriend, Akane sat down next to 
Nabiki, who seemed to look enviously at her younger sister.

    "So what happened?  Tatewaki gave you a gift?"

    Akane smiled.  "Yes, it was our one year anniversary, and he 
gave me a ring and matching necklace."  Akane had to admit, it was 
strange that she finally agreed to date Kuno that fateful day, one 
year ago.  Before, she had merely thought of Kuno as a rather long 
winded individual, who was really into Shakespeare and into girls.  
But surprisingly enough, he turned out to be an extremely faithful 
person.  However, his sister was a different story altogether.

    Soun looked at the conversation that was developing in front of 
him, and every time he tried to speak, either Akane or Nabiki would 
cut him off.  Fortunately his oldest daughter came into the room 
with some tea.  "Please, let Father speak."  Immediately, Akane and 
Nabiki silenced.

    Soun found himself wishing that Akane and Nabiki had continued 
their conversation, because now, given the green light to tell his 
secret, he found himself not so sure.  "Well, um.  I, um..."  Soun 
found himself stumbling over his words, and he looked helpless as 
he floundered around.

    Kasumi sighed.  "I believe, Father, that you intend to tell us 
about the Saotomes."  Soun's face turned paper-white.  Apparently, 
his well kept secret wasn't so well kept.  

    "Well, we're going to have guests over for dinner, and I want 
you all to be dressed nicely and be on your best behaviors."  Soun 
breathed a sigh of relief, as he finally postponed his announcement 
a few hours.  He knew that Nodoka-chan would be able to take care 
of everything.

    Kasumi only shook her head.

* * *

    The doorbell rang twice, in a brief succession.  Akane and 
Nabiki were both seated on the back porch, talking about various 
things.  "Nabiki, do you think they're here?"  Akane absentmindedly 
fingered her necklace as they heard Kasumi answer the door.

    "Ah, Ms. Saotome.  Please come in."  Kasumi bowed very deeply 
to Nodoka, and allowed the Saotome family to enter.

    Nodoka smiled.  "You're Kasumi, right?  No need to be so formal.
  My, I like what you've done to this home."  Nodoka walked into 
the house, but Ranma stood warily at the door.  Somehow, he just 
couldn't summon the energy to lift his foot and go into the home.  
Before he could even begin to deliberate whether he should go 
through dinner at this place, or go get some ramen from a 
restaurant, Ranko pushed him in the door.

    "Hurry it up, will you!"

    Nabiki turned around, and saw Kasumi leading three people in.  
There was a rather beautiful woman, and two teenagers, all were 
obviously related.  Perhaps it was the eyes.  There was something 
about the boy that she couldn't quite put her finger on it.  She 
did see him before.

    Soun was a little bit in the quick side to rush over and greet 
the newcomers.  "Ah, Nodoka!  Welcome to our home.  Here are my 
daughters, Akane, Nabiki, and Kasumi."  He pointed all of his 
daughters out, and each was polite enough to say hi or wave.

    Nodoka smiled.  "What beautiful daughters."  Ranma almost 
snorted.  To him, he felt that Nodoka was trying to replace his 
father.  Ranma could remember when he last saw his father, just 
before his father died.  Ranko could see Ranma clench his fists.

    Ranko whispered into Ranma's ears.  "What's wrong?"

    Nabiki too had reservations about having guests over.  'Hmph, 
it's one of Father's attempts to find a "decent mother."  Great.'  
Nabiki feigned a smile.

    Nodoka gestured to Ranma and Ranko.  "These are my children, 
Ranma and Ranko."

    Akane and Kasumi were both rather friendly, but Nabiki remained 
aloof.  Kasumi suddenly remembered that she left something on the 
stove.  "Oh great!  I forgot something.  Father, dinner should be 
ready in thirty minutes."  Kasumi rushed out of the room.

    Akane felt particularly cheerful that day, so she decided to 
talk a bit with Ranma and Ranko.  "Hey, so how do you guys feel?"

    Ranma immediately looked the other way and muttered something 
that seemed to be "I'm fine, and you?"

    Ranko elbowed her brother in the ribs, and Akane was surprised 
to see Ranma fall back, winded.  He did seem visually to be in 
excellent shape.  Ranko practically gasped, and pulled her brother 
up.

    "So what do you two like to do?"  Akane looked at Ranma and his 
younger sister.  Immediately Ranma shrugged his shoulders, but 
Ranko answered immediately.

    "I like martial arts."  Akane's eyebrow raised, since she was 
also interested in martial arts.  

    Akane smiled as a plan formed in her head.  "Hey, you two want 
to spar with me?"  Ranma's face twisted slightly while Ranko showed 
immediate interest.  Ranma sighed, and nodded, knowing that his 
sister would more than gladly spar.

* * *

    Akane stood across from Ranko, her hair slightly messy with a 
slight grin on her face.  Ranko was pretty good, in fact she had a 
vast advantage in speed.  However, Akane had the advantage in 
technique and training, and on numerous occasions she landed her 
blows on Ranko.  Ranko was breathing heavily.

    Akane quickly looked out the corner of her eye, and noticed 
Ranma looking bored, while sitting on the floor.  Ranma was looking 
intently at the fight, and during the current lull, he motioned to 
Ranko.  "Ranko, hey Ranko.  Come over here."  Ranko shrugged her 
shoulders, and broke off from the fight to listen to her brother.

    Akane watched Ranma whisper something into Ranko's ear, and 
almost immediately Ranko's eyes opened wide as if she just realized 
something that was blatantly obvious.  Ranko nodded, and she walked 
back to the center of the Dojo, returning to sparring with Akane.

    "Hey, Ranko.  What did he say?"  Akane was curious, as there 
was a small smile on Ranko's face.

    "Oh nothing.  Get ready!"  Ranko charged Akane, and Akane 
unleashed a barrage of attacks to notice that Ranko dodged under 
her attacks, and sweeped Akane's legs out from under her.  The 
entire dojo whirled back as she landed on her back on the floor.

    Ranko was there to help Akane to her feel.  Akane felt sheepish,
 as she knew that she allowed her confidence to overshadow her 
caution.  "You're pretty good, Ranko."

    Ranko giggled.  "Oh it's nothing.  My brother really beat you.  
He told me what to do."  Akane flashed a look at Ranma who was 
breathing heavily just from standing up.  He certainly didn't seem 
like a person who was good in martial arts.

    The door to the dojo slid open, and Nabiki leaned in the 
doorway.  "Hey, Kasumi finished cooking.  You should come over for 
dinner."

* * *

    During dinner, Ranma didn't seem to eat a lot.  Well, in fact, 
he never ate a lot.  It just that he never had a strong appetite, 
like his sister.  During dinner, everyone sat there watching with 
surprise and envy as they saw slim and slender Ranko consume large 
amounts of food.

    "May I be excused?"  Nodoka stared at Ranma who had barely 
touched anything at all, and she nodded.

    "Ranma, try to be back soon?"  Ranma nodded, and he walked 
outside, and lied down on the backporch.

    Soun looked at Nodoka.  "What's wrong?"  Nabiki bend down to 
retrieve a fallen napkin, and she couldn't help but notice Soun's 
hand holding Nodoka's.  Nabiki almost dropped her chopsticks.

   Nodoka shook her head.  "I'll tell you later."

    Meanwhile, Nabiki was trying to digest what was happening.  'So 
this was what Father wanted to tell us this morning.'  Almost 
immediately, Nabiki felt an anger grab a hold of her, but unlike 
Ranma, she controlled it rather well.  'How dare Father think of 
marrying another woman!'

    "Well, I'm not that hungry.  I guess I'll go do something."  
Nabiki stood up, and left the room.

    Kasumi sat down next to Akane.  "So Ms. Saotome, when is the 
ceremony?"  Akane looked surprised.

    "What ceremony?"  Akane chewed carefully on some food, while 
looking at her father and Nodoka.  Soun seemed slightly put off.

    "You didn't tell your children yet?"  Nodoka stared at Soun for 
a moment.  "Well, Akane, your Father proposed to be last week.  We 
are going to get married in three weeks."  Akane froze