What's gone before:  Assuming that Cologne was in the village when
Shampoo got beaten by Ranma, and took measures to capture the
martial artist, he ends up with many more wives than he ever 
imagined.  At least, that's what happened.

Again, to Gary Kleppe of ronin ML... oooh, darn.  Yup, he's here, 
too, I know.  For the C&C then.

I know that these things are a bit to spread out, but they're
mostly teasers for the big one... the lemon I'm planning.  (Ain't
I proud of it?  ^_^)

*****

One Man's Dream is Another's Undoing
by Nikholas "Switch" F. Toledo
Characters based upon designs in Ranma 1/2 by Rumiko Takahashi
No discredit or disfavor is intended upon anyone.

Ukyo's Tale

	"It is a hard feat to follow chaos, and a quest to trail the random 
winds.  But what takes me here is a spirited dervish, a goading imp which 
sends me to madness and beyond."

	The trail of the Saotomes stopped cold in Japan, and they were last 
known to have traveled to China.  I boarded the next boat to the 
mainland, knowing that they could not have afforded to catch a plane;  I 
would do well to follow suit.
	On board, I heard of several places of interest to wandering 
martial artists:  some well-known martial arts schools;  some rumored and 
mythical dynastic strongholds.  Though, as soon as I had heard of the one 
place, I knew that there my pursuit would begin anew;  as soon as I had 
heard the words "training grounds" juxtaposed with "cursed", I knew that 
they had gone there...

	"... Jusenkyo," the man said.  The child on his back was cooing 
mercifully in her sleep.  I had thought that child not only cried too 
much, she had big hopeful eyes.  I recall I had the same hue of irises
before I was six.
	"Not much," I noted.
	"That what they say, too," the guide noted.  He coughed a smoker's 
cough, and I noticed that his hands twitched in the way of holding a 
pipe.
	I unsheathed my battle-spatula, and partook of the facilities.
	"Sir!"  The guide started to wave his hands in a manner to call my 
attention.  "You no want fall in spring!"
	Well, duh.  That was the point, wasn't it?
	As I began a kata, using six close poles as foot positions, swiping 
at the air meaningfully, the man in the Mao clothes carefully placed his 
child as far as he could into a clearing, and as far from the springs as 
possible.  He continued his distractions anew.  "Please, sir!  We talk 
more of pigtail boy and father, yes?"  He was beginning to sound 
desperate.
	Apparently, he distracted someone else.  The child started wailing.  
	This, on the other hand, made me lose my balance.
	"Aiiyaa!" he shouted, as I broke water.  
	As I was submerged, I noticed several changes taking place, causing 
the bandages on my chest to loosen, and the ribbon in my hair to unravel.  
I dared not to rise again, but my lungs gave out before I had a choice.
	The man was holding a sign, and gabbing something fierce.  He saw 
my transformation, and had his eyes bug out of his head.  I thought only 
to ask for something to dry myself with.
	The guide stopped his hysterics, and his child sat with wide eyes 
at me.  "You take this better than others, sir.  No one I see fall in 
'nyannichuan' come out to ask for towel first.  Mirror, maybe."  He 
obliged, though.
	"Well," I said, between rubs, "maybe I should take you up on that 
talk."
	"Sir," the guide picked up his bundle.  "Maybe you want be girl 
more than boy?  You turn back to boy with this."  He indicated a kettle 
of hot water.
	I shook my head at the backwater thinking of these people.  "Let's 
just talk, okay?"

	I entered the village, wary of the prying eyes of various women in 
heavy battle armor and large-scale armament.  The Jusenkyo guide brought 
his young Plum over to what I could only think to be a corral where young 
girls were busy doing whatever young "Amazons" were supposed to do.  He 
started an animated talk with the youngish woman with thigh-length red 
hair, which caught the attention of a burlier woman.
	After some heated words, with the children that weren't busy mock-
fighting as audience, the trio took a look at me.  Then, the two women 
shared a meaningful glance.
	The smaller woman gestured in a way to say that she would handle 
it.  
	I stood, waiting to talk to the blue-eyed redhead.
	"You are looking for a Saotome," she said in straight Japanese.
	Not to be taken aback by this display of competence, I merely 
nodded.
	"Leave," she said, sincere.  "You will not find him here."
	"No," I gripped her wrist, not too lightly.  "I must find him."
	She gave the offending hand a leer.  "A outsider man who defeats an 
Amazon must marry her.  Are you willing to settle for a child like me?"
	I thought for a moment to reveal my secret, but settled to reveal 
only my quest.  I release her, amidst worried looks from my companion.  
"I merely want to settle an old debt.  I was told by the old man that he 
had brought them here, a while back."
	She looked into my eyes intently.  Behind her, two agitated natives 
waited.  "You have come a long way," she said slowly, "to settle a debt."
	"A debt of honor must be settled swiftly," I replied.
	She stared at me, more intent than before.  At last, she spoke:  
"Tonight."
	"What?"  I barely made her out, with the tone she took.
	"He... will	be here."  With that, she left me to ponder her red 
hair, and blue eyes.

	The guide was cooking tonight, as I had run out of my homemade 
batch of okonomiyaki sauce.  Much as I had tried to not get amused with 
Plum, she had tried even harder to dissuade me from my murderous mood.  I 
was busy giggling over burbling sounds she was making, when the guide 
served us some broiled meat.  I was wondering why it was a custom to boil 
meat raw (and kicking), before further treating it, here in this neck of 
China;  I noted the recipe in the back of my mind.	
	The guide took my distraction, and started to slice off smaller 
pieces from the meat.  "Mr. Customer," the guide started.
	"Yes," I replied, between careful bites.
	"This red-haired Amazon... she say he there now?"  He was obviously 
groping for the right words.  I nodded assent.  "You go there?  Now?"
	"Well, yeah," I said, washing off some of the oil with water.
	"You kill him?"  He obviously didn't like the idea.
	My jaw tightened.  I just finished off my plate and, hefting my 
tools of trade, left.

	I edged up, towards the path to the Village of the Amazons, in the 
light of the full moon.  As I entered the clearing, just at the mouth of 
the village, I saw him, standing in the middle.
	He crouched, lowering his center of gravity, as I try to lose my 
silhouette in the shadows of the nearby outcroppings.  "I'm here," he 
said, straightening up.
	I barely made the shrubs I passed shake, as I neared the other end 
of the path to the village, placing myself effectively behind him.  He 
began to pivot on his right foot, slowly, but deliberately.  "I'm here to 
talk," he whispered into the still night air.
	Not wanting to waste the opportunity, I leapt as he turned from my 
position, with the two-handed spatula above my shoulder.
	To my annoyance, he caught a beam of reflected illumination, and 
was able to roll away as I imbed the sharpened end of my weapon into the 
ground.
	"You talk of honor," he says, brushing himself to stand.  I allow 
him the chance to continue.  "And you pull something like that."
	"You," I grated, "have some nerve."  I pulled back, swiping at his 
feet.  "Talking about honor," I said as I watched him jump above me, and 
turned to face him as he landed.
	"Tell me what it is I've done," he spoke, suddenly aggressive.  He 
was able to whisper this in my ear, "or who it is you are."
	We stood like that for a while, and I expected a blow of some sort.  
I opened my eyes to see him turn towards the village.  "I've got no time 
to play some stupid games."
	"Go!"  I suddenly felt the cold of the foreboding night.  "This is 
not the first time you're leaving me!"
	He turned back, taken aback.  "What?"  he hissed.
	"But I'll be running after you, and I'll hunt you down!"
	Ranma stopped in mid-turn, eyes unfocussed in a recalled scene.  
"Is..."  There was a dread in that voice.  "Is that you... Ucchan?"
	Instead of calming me down, the mention of my childhood nickname 
sent a chill down my spine, fanning the flames of anger that threatened 
to freeze me.  I ran full tilt at the mocking young man with thigh-long 
hair.
	"Ucchan..." he whispered, as I sailed within a hair's breadth of 
him.
	I was surprised as he held me from behind.  "Don't... don't go 
there..."  There was a hollowness to his voice which made it eerie.
	My anger could not be abated.  "Let go of me!"  I pushed away from 
him as far as I could, and let loose with some sharpened spatulas.
	He seemed to have come back to his senses, as he closed the 
distance with another jump.  "Why?"  He started to come within range of 
the battle spatula.  "Why did you find me?"
	"To kill you!"  I savagely arced the flattened metal down on his 
head.
	He brought up his hands to catch the edge.  "Why?"
	"Because you left me!"  I tried to force the metal down.
	"But... why?"  He stared into my eyes with blue eyes.
	"Because you stole my family's grill!"  The metal was beginning to 
bend at the handle.
	"Pop said that you gave it to us."  He didn't even flinch.
	"You were supposed to take me too!"  I gritted my teeth, giving all 
my strength.
	"But, why?"
	The spatula broke.
	I tumbled forward... and he caught me.
	"I... I was... to be..."  We sat down.  He still looked at me, as I 
gave way completely.
	"... my friend," he completed, breathless.  I held the broken 
handle, and lost consciousness.

	"... sir!"  I blinked, and sat upright.  The guide was stooping 
over my sleeping bag.  I still was gripping the twisted metal remnants of 
my battle spatula, whose counterpart was on a table.  
	"He... he must have brought me back..."  The guide nodded, anxious 
to stop me from talking.
	"He live with Amazon.  Is Amazon," the guide shook his head 
ruefully.
	"He left me..."  I was still dazed.
	The guide handed me a note.  "He leave you this."
	I read.

*****

Next up:  Mousse's Misery

Switch
Nikholas F. Toledo Zu
Vector, Switch, Yebah, Don Juan, goo, Pervert, Scruples, Hollie, NomaD,
Blitz, Gee
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Flats/3145