see note in 1a
A Very Scary Bet,RAAC version
part 1b: A different spin and charge
by greggsharp, metroanime@mindspring.com
http://metroanime.home.mindspring.com
---------------------February 21, 1984----------------------------
"Shampoo try to remember. This is no good place.
You no want to train here."
"Ready yourself for a pounding, boy!" Genma took
his place on one pole. The kids' skill levels had been rapidly
improving, this would be a good exercise for determining their
basic manueverability levels. On level ground, in mud, on
ice (Akane had insisted) now on poles, he would mercilessly
test them for any weakness to be pounded out of them.
"Ready, when you are, old man!" Eight years old and
full of himself, Ranma settled onto one of the poles.
"Heh, I'll get you this time, Nabiki!"
"In your dreams, 'Dachi!"
"Oh my. Are you ready, Ukyou-chan?"
"Of course, Kasumi-chan. I think that village down the
road ought to be good for some business tomorrow and we can
replenish supplies there..." Ukyou shrugged, martial arts were
important but okonomiyaki made it all possible.
"Are you scared, bimbo?" Akane still wasn't completely
sure what the word meant, but it was an insult and Uncle Genma
had given plenty of advice on using words as weapons. Mainly
that it should be done as often as possible.
"Bimbo? You mean poor? Shampoo amazon princess!
Shampoo show violent girl benefit of amazon training!" Shampoo
didn't want to get near these pools, but she had to think of the
honor of the amazon tribe!
A leaf blew across the field. Eight people leapt from
their poles to engage in mid-air battles and then land on another
pole. At least that was how it started.
The Jusenkyo Guide watched and relaxed slightly.
Maybe this would work out. They were all very, very, good.
Several were getting close to the far end as they leapt, fought,
and then landed on the next set of poles.
"How dare you steal my bride!" Mousse was wearing
his glasses this time. Not that this did much good. He shot off a
barrage of chains to snag his Shampoo free of danger.
Timing and concentration were lost as Ranma found
himself enveloped in chains in mid leap. "HEY!"
Like a row of dominos, the effects of this distraction
spread. Leaps were mis-timed, blocks missed. Give 'em a break,
they were only kids.
A series of splashes could be heard with a certain
Jusenkyo Guide spinning a tale of woe.
"AAAAAAaaaa!" Nabiki collided with her opponent and
the two became acquainted with different springs.
"Growf?!" An enraged panda leapt up from a spring but
realized that there was something wrong with this picture. Very very
wrong with this picture. The sight before him penetrated even the
rage at having an unexpected bath.
"GraRRRRRRR!" Kodachi didn't think too highly of this
development. She lashed her tail and snarled.
"Grunt!!!!"
"Kiiiii kiiiiii!"
Kasumi and Shampoo slammed into a patch of open
ground after a crescent edged blade on the end of one of Mousse's
chains sheared through a pole and the two collided in midair trying
to avoid it. The ground collapsed under them and Kasumi screamed
briefly as the water started pouring up around her.
"ROARRRRRRRR!" Ranma glanced around. In the simpler
worldview of an eight year old, this was all kinda neat. All sorts of
animals everywhere, but... hey, that was 'Sumi and Shamchan and they
weren't coming up!
Wings shifted slightly and Ranma dove into the pool.
"Ranchan?" A winged Ukyou settled next to the dragon
as he pulled the two figures out.
"Grunnnnn," Ranma-ryu managed. "Aruuuu."
"They're not breathing. You get Kasumi, I'll get Shamchan."
"Hrunnn." Ranma spared a moment to give a funny look
to Ukyou, not at ALL sure how she'd managed to understand him.
The Jusenkyo Guide scratched his head. There was
something wrong with this picture.
"Hrunf!" A rhino exclaimed as she stared at a Chinese
boy. Said Chinese boy was wiping his glasses.
"Grrrrrrrrrr," the black tiger said, looking quite annoyed.
"Kiyaaa kiyaa!" (Splash!) "Ack! I missed. Hey! I'm
human again!"
"Uhm. Looks like the curses mix. Who were you?"
"What do you mean, Ukyou?"
"Hrunnn?!"
Mousse put his glasses back on. A very young
rhino ran over him, stopped, then ran over him again. A
tiger pounced on him and tossed the boy over her shoulder.
The Guide brought the extra large kettle out. The
rhino changed back into a girl who immediately started beating
on the Chinese boy. The tiger was turned back into another girl
who grabbed up a long ribbon and started wielding it like a whip
on the very same Chinese boy. The dragon was turned back into
a darkhaired boy. Other things changed into other kids.
"Very sad, very terrible tragic story," the Guide said,
changing a panda back into the leader of this expedition. "You
want short or long version?"
"Uhm. Can it wait until we get away from the springs?"
----------------still April 21, 1984--------------------
Genma groaned. He had been
sure that this would be a great training ground,
and had insisted they go to Jusenkyo.
Now he turned into a panda, Genma
raised his tear-tracked eyes to the heavens. "Why?!"
Behind him, Ukyou was doing a
handstand on the back of a running rhino.
"Oh, the horrors of one's loss of
humanity!" Genma continued to cry at the
heavens. "Of being trapped in a form not your
own!"
Kasumi yelling "Giddyap Ranma!"
and flying overhead aboard a dragon temporarily
undermined the mood, but Genma rallied.
"How could the kami inflict such a
tragedy on poor children!" Genma paled as he
thought of returning home with a menagerie in
tow. Nodoka finding a good recipe for panda.
Kuonji-san might not be too unhappy with his
daughter now having wings as she was otherwise
unchanged...or panda okonomiyaki might be for
sale.
"Race you, Shampoo," said one winged
Shampoo to the other.
"To village and back, Nabiki? You on!"
"Of course if SOME of the kids hadn't
gone back for their clothes..." grumbled Genma.
Ranma in his Kasumi form rode a unicorn
past his father.
"But the horrors of the situation..." Genma
pictured trying to explain how Ranma's cursed form
could shapechange to human, but as the result of
mixed curses he could only change into one form.
A female one. That just happened to look and
act like his eldest "sister."
A giggling Akane sped past, being carried
around by an oversized black tiger cub.
"Why, someone tell me why!" Genma raised
his fist to the uncaring sky.
"<Because you're an idiot,>" the returning
Nabiki said without any trace of sarcasm. She said it in
Mandarin as needlessly antagonizing their chaperone
would only cause problems later.
Unfortunately, Genma _had_ learned
the Mandarin word for idiot.
------------------April 23, 1984-------------------
"Ni hao!" Nabiki bowed, Japanese fashion
to the Elder. With the amount of lore she'd receive here,
she could make quite a bit of money as a Chinese herbist
back in Japan.
"Today we begin your training, young
lady," Cologne watched the girl carefully. Yes, she had
some promise there. Her cursed form may LOOK like
a winged Shampoo, but the shorter hair and tendency
to be constantly eating something revealed her identity
to those who paid attention to such things.
Mousse didn't have a clue.
"All right," Nabiki grinned confidently. "Let's
see what youth and cunning can do against old age
and tricky..."
Cologne grinned back. "We'll see about that,
won't we?" She wondered if perhaps that Genma was
correct. Could this eight year old have the spirit of an
amazon? Or was that merely another con the old panda was
trying to pull?
Though Shampoo going with them meant she had
a chance to get to know her husband-to-be better.
---------------------June 28, 1984-----------------------
"It's a deal then," Genma smiled at the young
man. Kasumi seemed to like him, so this white haired young
practitioner of the healing arts would have an apprentice
in something useful (and he'd break Kasumi's influence over
Ranma at the same time!)
"Come child," said the man, who refused to give his
name as anything but "the Healer Brother."
"What kind of healing art is it that you practice,
anyway, Mr. Brother?" Kasumi stared up at the muscular figure.
"It was originally an assassin's art, but it is also useful
for healing as you will see. My own style within it is the Gentle Fist
technique, and the name for the school is Hokuto Shin Ken."
"Oh," said Kasumi, impressed. Great Bear God Fist style.
It certainly sounded very impressive. Maybe it was possible for
her to cure Ranma's Jusenkyo curse with such skills.
And as a unicorn was her cursed form, there was just
all sorts of things she might be able to learn to do!
--------------------------July 14, 1984------------------------
"I thought you said they can cure my Jusenkyo
curse so that Ranma can tolerate my presence again. HEY!" A
struggling Kodachi vanished into the depths of the temple.
"That the Northstar school is seeking to pass some
few of its techniques on to an outsider is surprising," said the
gray-haired general with a nod. "There can be only ONE practitioner
of the school, after all."
"Yes, but he won't teach her all the techniques, after
all," said Genma confidently. He reached to refill his wineglass. "Just
enough to ensure that if the coming conflagration DOES occur, that
not all the secrets will be lost. So instead of Hokuto Shin Ken, the rival
of Kodachi will be learning ju-ken, or the gentle fist technique."
"An interesting thought, in which case her lifelong rival might
benefit from training in one of the opposing schools," acknowledged the
sensei. "I think that one will do best in the Southern Cross Waterfowl Fist
techniques."
"No doubt," agreed Genma, having no idea what the
other was talking about. "What of her Jusenkyo curse? CAN you
cure it?"
"There is no cure for a Jusenkyo curse," the elder
shrugged. It wasn't the first time he would be proven to be
wrong. "Though they can be modified. We shall have to see."
--------------------------August 3, 1984-----------------------
"Shampoo not going to strange foreign land,
stupid panda just try to sell off remaining students."
Shampoo looked over at the girl next to her. "Ranma come
back to village with Shampoo?"
"Maybe he wants to go back HOME," chided
Akane. "After all, his memories of China can't be that
pleasant with us getting cursed and all."
"So...Shampoo can make sure Ranma does get
some pleasant memories!"
Ranma slumped against a tree. "Gee, trade me
off like I was okonomiyaki, why don't you," she muttered.
She kept it quiet though, having learned THAT lesson over the
years. She was currently wearing her Kasumi form as her
cooking skills seemed to improve slightly in that form.
"What do you mean pleasant memories!?"
Akane got in Shampoo's face, blushing slightly as she
filled in the blanks. "We're still only eight, y'know!"
"Shampoo turn nine this week. Airen turn nine
last month. Shampoo also know how to be cute and nice to
airen, unlike Akane!" Shampoo wasn't thinking of the same
sort of games Akane was.
"WHAT was that? Would you care to repeat that?"
Ranma wondered if she could just sneak away this
time or if it would precipitate the fight sequence.
"Ranchan?"
Too late, realized Ranma.
Genma returned to the camp a few hours later and
grunted. The scene was of a long and difficult battle waged here.
At least they weren't letting up in their training.
-------------November 3, 1984--------------------
"Why me?"
"Because, Akane, this style suits you pretty
well." Genma gestured to the dojo behind him. "You know
that the strength of the Anything Goes style is that it
incorporates other styles into itself, emphasizing the
strength of diversity."
"So have Ukyou, or Shampoo, or Ranma learn
this stuff!" Akane turned her nose up. She was in one of
her frequent "snarked off" phases, angry over Ranma
hogging the granola bars on the trip up the mountain.
Akane was _so_ damn tired of okonomiyaki.
"I'll learn it," Ranma said, having reverted to
girl form again on the trip. She was beginning to get tired
of the effort to find the hot water and switch back only to
get tagged shortly thereafter. Maybe staying in one area
she could at least keep some hot water handy.
Besides, with his cursed form, Fierce Dragon
sounded like a perfect martial art.
"No, absolutely not," Genma said, panicking
slightly. "Ranma is the heir of the Saotome half of the
school, and should learn from me."
"If airen stay, then Shampoo stay!"
"Likewise. No way I'm gonna leave Ranchan
to starve on this damn mountain."
"Shampoo make sure airen not starve, Ukyou
and Violent Pervert Girl go find other masters to study
under. Is no problem."
"HEY!" Akane glared at Shampoo. "Bimbo!"
"Tomboy!" Shampoo countered, rolling up her
sleeves.
Ukyou started to lean on Ranma but glares from
the two soon-to-be-combatants convinced her that this
would not be tolerated.
Ranma was careful not to grumble too loud, but
her expression said it all. She was tired of being a bone of
contention, just an excuse for fights to break out. It wasn't
like anyone here actually cared about her. Only Kasumi really
cared about her, and Kasumi cared about everybody.
Genma waited until Akane was laid out on the ground,
then carried the girl off. She could learn the Fierce Dragon style,
and would earn her keep here. It wasn't like she could man
the yattai.
-----------------June 1, 1985-------------------
"...so Shampoo go back to village," Shampoo
nodded at the two other children. "Still have much to
learn in Amazonian Wu Shu."
"Good bye, Shampoo, we'll miss you." Ukyou
was both happy and sad at the same time. More time with
Ranchan, but she got along a lot better with Shampoo when
they weren't fighting over Ranma. Unlike with Akane, Ukyou
didn't have to worry about the yattai catching fire or the
customers getting food poisoning while Shampoo was working
as cook.
"I'll miss you too, Shampoo." Ranma gave the
Chinese girl a light squeeze. "It's gonna be strange without
you around."
"Ship over there, Myou no maru, have connections
to Amazon village," Shampoo confided. "You need get word to
Shampoo, you find ship. Otherwise see airen and Ukyou after
sixteenth birthday. Then Shampoo win big tournament and come
back for airen."
"Hey, I won't let him go THAT easily!" Ukyou grinned.
After all, she had time to win Ranma all by herself now.
"Neither will Shampoo," the Amazon declared. "Bie bie."
Genma, watching from a distance, smirked. One down,
one to go.
----------------------August 3, 1985---------------------
Genma grinned. The yattai and Ukyou were back
with Kuonji-san, to "complete her training in okonomiyaki
style martial arts" because her "family school shouldn't be
neglected." It had been a spark of brilliance on his part,
Genma felt without a trace of modesty.
Ranma was still off sulking, as he had been for
the past few days. He hadn't said a word in over a week,
protesting the last of the girls leaving, no doubt. Well, he'd
get over it.
"C'mon, Ranma, we've got to go." Genma
walked over to the sulking boy. "Ranma!"
Genma stopped when he noticed that the
clothes had filled out with a scarecrow. Come to think
of it, he hadn't seen Ranma do a heck of a lot over the
past week.
Rubbing his temples again, Genma decided
to start at the Kuonji restaurant and work his trail
backwards. He hadn't thought that Ranma had missed
any of the girls THAT much.
If nothing else, maybe Kuonji-san had some
aspirin.
---------------------December 24, 1985----------------------
Genma entered Nerima to find that his wife had
indeed moved into the slightly larger Tendo household.
She hadn't wanted to originally, but maintaining both had
been too much effort.
Sneaking about, he was able to determine that
Ranma was not here, nor was he at the locked up Saotome
house in Juuban.
Genma scratched his head, and presented the
very picture of a puzzled if not perplexed panda. Ranma
was not here, not with the Kuonji family, not at the dojo
of the Fierce Dragon school, and Genma did not think it
likely that Ranma would have gone back to China.
Where would a nine year old martial artist
boy-that-turned-into-a-dragon-that-turned-into-a-girl be?
-------------Elsewhere--------------
"Hey, I just asked ya if ya knew where I
could find the Tendo dojo," Ranma looked around.
"NOW where are we?"
"Uhm, Okinawa?" Ryouga looked at the
hot humid jungle around them.
"If thou had but listened to my directions,
we would be there already, though it be but an
abandoned building upon which horror stories are
built."
"It's not abandoned," Ranma swatted at a
few bugs that got too close. "My mother's living there
now according to the neighbors at her old place."
"Ah, my goddess with a ponytail, then let
us fly there that you may introduce me to thy mother!"
"Not the goddess. I'm a guy. I just...well, okay,
I'm a girl at the moment. Let me find some hot water and
I'll show you the curse."
"Stupid stick boy leave Ranma alone!"
"Are you sure that blow to the head..."
"No, Ryouga, I'm not making this up." Ranma
stopped and pointed. "Pardon me, but are there little guys
not wearing much of anything but warpaint commonly
found in Okinawa? I musta missed that class."
"Aiyaa. They smell worse than Musk Dynasty
warriors. You think we offend thems?"
Kuno blocked and noted the arrow quivering
in the wood of his bokken. "Methinks discretion be the
wisest course in this matter."
"Translation," Ranma said, grabbing Ryouga's
hand so he wouldn't get lost. She didn't notice Ryouga's
blush that began when she did that. "He means run
like your life depended on it, cause it might. On the count of
three. One, two,..."
Kuno was already fifty yards away, sprinting down
a trail.
"Oh HELL, come on!" Ranma started dragging Ryouga
along behind her as arrows began flying around them. Maybe she
ought to switch to dragon, except she might kill some of 'em. It was
so hard to control the extreme mood swings of the dragon.
Especially with Shampoo cheering for the gratuitous
violence scenes.
-----------------
Kasumi's fingers darted and danced across the shiatsu
points, her expression screwed up in concentration. The twelve
year old was a fast student, and the Brother was well pleased with
his apprentice.
"Stop, Kasumi."
Kasumi stopped, her last tap having missed the target
area entirely. "Oh darn."
"Up until then, you were doing fine. THAT point, though,
combined with the anesthetic point and the clear mind point would
have given the target a bad case of niceness. Try again."
Kasumi nodded but fixed the combination strike in her
mind. You never know when that might come in handy. She'd
already learned several odd shiatsu attacks that way.
-------------
Akane smiled at her sempai. So _cute_! And unlike
Ranma he didn't turn into anything.
The two elder students were similar in build if in
nothing else. Ryu was the dedicated fighter. There wasn't
much in his life beyond the Art. Akane had thought he was
kind of mysterious and attractive.
Except that he'd taken one look at her cursed
form and started laughing at her. Now she was convinced
that he was a jerk.
Ken, though, Ken was special. He had a sense of
humor, and had a smile that sent a little thrill along Akane's
spine. He was serious, sometimes, irreverant at other times,
and Ryu's near equal in the Fierce Dragon style.
He was American too, which made him exotic
and fascinating to Akane. The way she felt about Ken
Masters was a LOT different from the way she felt about
her "brother" Ranma.
He'd described her cursed form of a rhino as
"kinda neat." Especially as the size of the rhino wasn't
terribly big, almost small pony size. Handy when they
needed to knock over trees, too.
Now if she could just get him to notice her.
He was only three years older, after all.
------------------------
Nabiki wiped the smirk from her face. "Hey,
I don't just sell these to ANYONE, you know."
Vanilla nodded, and met Nabiki's gaze with
her own red eyes. Other than those eyes and her clothes,
everything about Vanilla was pale as if all the color had
been drawn from a normal amazon. Even her voice seemed
to lack color and vibrancy. "Yes, I have heard that you
have actually turned down some who wished to make this
purchase."
The ten year old Japanese girl regarded the
eight year old albino Amazon for a moment. "Can you meet
the qualifications?"
Vanilla nodded and lifted the basket.
Nabiki took it, grinning as she saw the booty
within. Vanilla was a fair warrior, a lousy tracker, and
couldn't hold a tune if it had handles, but when precision
and a deft hand were required, she was excellent. She'd
turned out to be an excellent seamstress.
"You haven't told me why you wanted this,"
Nabiki said, handing Vanilla an official "fiancee of Ranma"
membership card.
"I have heard the married women talk. Some talk
of the joy that they have found, others talk of the carnal
pleasures they enjoy, while others speak of how angry their
mates make them." Vanilla blinked as she studied the card.
"I...just want to feel _something._"
Cologne cleared her throat and entered the hut,
causing Vanilla to excuse herself and go about her duties.
"Nabiki, something I have suspected for a long time has just
become a matter of concern, what do you consider an engagement
to mean?"
"It's a financial arrangement where two or more pull
together for the common good," Nabiki shrugged. "Uncle Genma
explained the whole thing to me a long time ago. Usually it's just
one guy and his wife, why?"
Cologne began to explain. She pulled out charts and
slides and pictures, she explained what went where and why, she
explained the legal ramifications, but skipped over the socio political
history of the custom when she noticed something.
Nabiki hadn't blinked in over five minutes.
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