Ranma 1/2 used without permission
Spiderman used without permission
C&C is, as always, welcome and appreciated
Find my other works at http://web.infoave.net/~jedediah

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        "Behold the future of genetic engineering," Doctor Ryo Sanzaki said
to the assembled scientists. He was a thin man, an unruly mop of black hair
atop an unshaven face. Thick glasses rested on his sharp nose, and a
wrinkled lab coat was draped across his shoulders.
        The large room was well-lit, banks of large computers and other
machines lining the walls and occupying various spots on the floor. Thick
cables criss-crossed the tile floor, forming a tangled black web. In the
center of the room, behind Sanzaki, were two devices resembling a cross
between a scorpion's tail and a laser tower.
        Ryo took a few steps over to a tall computer panel laden with
buttons, monitors, and levers. A low hum filled the room as he manipulated
the panel. The tips of the two laser towers began to glow a bright green,
tendrils of electricity crackling outward in all directions. The glow
intensified with the humming noise, until a bright green bolt shot across
the gap between the two towers.
        The scientists busily scribbled notes onto pads as the green energy
arc crackled between the two devices, casting a sporadically shifting light
around the lab. As the researchers took notes and talked in hushed whispers,
a small grey spider lowered itself down into the path of the beam. The tiny
arachnid hung in the green arc, spinning about. After a few seconds, the
beam deactivated. The spider crawled back up the thin web strand and
disappeared into the rafters.
        "Gentlemen," Ryo said, removing the protective goggles he wore,
"This is just an early test model. I believe that with more research, along
with grants from your respective coporations and institutions, this
technology could grant us genetic manipulation on a level mankind has never
known.
        "Think about it, disease wiped out, human life extended by decades,
if not longer! My fellow scientists, I give you: NeoGenics!"
        "I must admit, Doctor Sanzaki," Said one of the scientists, a tall,
balding man with a thick beard, "Your proposal is most intriguing."
        "I agree," said another, a man of similar build to Ryo's, "Your
results so far show great potential. I, for one, will definitely see about
getting you the necessary funds." The other scientists echoed his sentiments
as they left the lab, sending Ryo into a state of bliss. The demonstration
had gone far better than he could have hoped. If all went well, NeoGenics
would be the technology that lifted mankind from the depths of disease and
poverty. What could possibly go wrong?

================================

        "You shouldn't have run, twerp!" exclaimed the guy holding Hikaru
Gosunkugi up by the collar of his torn uniform. "This is gonna hurt you more
than it's gonna hurt me!" 
        A hard punch slammed into Gosunkugi's stomach, threatening to force
up the pop-tarts he had for breakfast. As he fought to hold his breakfast,
more blows landed from the caveman holding him. After a few moments of
pounding, Gosunkugi hit the floor of the secluded alley.
        Waves of pain rolled through him as he lay on the hard pavement,
unable to resist as the three raided his pockets in search of his wallet. He
simply moaned as the leader removed it, incapable of fighting back.
        "Three hundred yen!" he shouted, anger in his voice. "All you got is
three hundred yen?"
        "I...don't....have....any more," Gosunkugi gasped, trying to rise up
on all fours. A shoe collided with his midsection, lifting him off the
ground a little before he slammed back down.
        "That," came the angry voice of the leader, "was for wasting my
time, gayboy." The sounds of mindless laughter and receeding footsteps
echoed in Gosunkugi's ears. He lay there a few minutes more, trying to catch
his breath and recalling just how it all happened.

        Being Sunday, Hikaru Gosunkugi had the whole day to himself. Both
his mother and father worked seven days a week, meaning he had the house all
to himself.
        Waking to the sound of his alarm clock, he had walked/stumbled into
the kitchen, hoping to maybe find some rice left for him. Instead of a
decent breakfast, however, he was left pop-tarts. As always. Not exactly the
breakfast of champions.
        Eating a couple anyway, he had retreated back into his room to
gather some books to return to the library. They were a few days overdue,
meaning that a stiff penalty would be incurred. Gathering his wallet, he
checked the contents.. He had enough yen for a two-way train ticket to
Tokyo, the late fee for the books, and maybe some cheap bento for lunch.
Sighing heavily, he showered, dressed, and gathered the books and his wallet.
        The train ride was uneventful, allowing him to browse through one of
the books he had checked out. "Voodoo For Dummies" was the title, and it was
humorously written. However, none of the spells he tried worked. Many of
them required objects or ingredients that he either didn't have, or couldn't
pronounce. Of the three spells he DID have the materials for, well, he'd
never look at Post-It notes and shaved cats the same way again...
        Yet another failure. Closing the book, he wondered it he would EVER
become a competent wizard. All he wanted was some power... something to set
him above the rest of his fellow man... something to get the attention of
Akane Tendo...

        The books had been returned, but once outside the library, things
took a nosedive. Outside were Keiichi, Gan, and Morita, three of Furinkan's
worst thugs. They never messed with the likes of Ranma, they weren't stupid,
but the likes of Gosunkugi were fair game to them.
        He had hoped to slip away before they could see him. He got all of
three steps before one pointed him out. The chase ended up in the alley in
which he now lay, hurt and broke with his wallet and his dignity in the
hands of three neanderthals. Gosunkugi was used to being beaten up by just
about everybody... it seemed his lot in life. Times like that made him think
that he would never be more than a punching bag with legs for the rest of
his life.

        "Ow!" he exclaimed, looking up at his left hand when he felt the
sting. On his hand was a grey spider, fangs sunk into the flesh. He was
momentarily surprised that he would notice the spider's bite with the
beating he had just recieved. Before he could swat it, though, the spider
skittered off of his hand and into the shadows ahead.
        "Great," he said as he pulled himself to his feet, "now I've gotta
see a doctor!" He couldn't tell if the spider was poisonous or not, but it
was best not to take chances. With his luck, it probably was.
        He took a step toward the mouth of the alley when the dizziness set
in. Gosunkugi's vision blurred, shifting in and out of focus. Fire began to
burn in his blood as his stomach cramped and his brain throbbed all at once.
He dropped to his knees, a low moan escaping his lips before he slipped into
unconsciousness.

==========================

        The courtyard at Furinkan HIgh was curiously empty, Hikaru noticed
as he walked across the grounds. It was nearly lunch, and there should have
been several students out enjoying the sunshine. Instead, nobody was around.
        Meandering around one of the back corners of Furinkan, he saw Akane
Tendo kneeling alone on the grass. Her uniform was perfect as always, a
small bento box in her hand. Gosunkugi looked left, then right, seeing who
else was around. Like the front, the rear of the yard was empty, save for
the two of them.
        //Now's my chance!\\ Gosunkugi thought to himself. He had never felt
this confident before, this strong. He casually walked up to the kneeling
girl, opening his mouth for a greeting.
        Akane's gaze fell on him, a look of revulsion and horror settling on
her face. A piercing scream escaped her lips as she rose from the ground.
Before he could wonder what was wrong, countless more screams joined Akane's.
        The courtyard was suddenly filled with people, all looking at him in
fear and disgust. many were pointing and screaming, as though they were
looking at some horrible monster. He finally looked down at himself to see
what all the commotion was about.
        A scream burst forth from his lungs at the sight. his body was
enormous, covered with rippling muscles and coarse black hair. His hands
sported only three fingers, long claws at the ends. Another pair of hands
appeared, and another. Gosunkugi discovered he had six arms all together,
and none of them human. As he searched for a way out in the crowd, he caught
a glimpse of himself in a window.
        "NOOOOO!" he screamed in a deep roar. His head was large and
misshapen, eight blood-red eyes lined up on each side. A gaping maw filled
with fangs was what passed for his mouth, a green substance dripping from
the teeth. His head was covered in the same coarse hair, completing his
spider-like visage.
        A maelstrom of emotions whirled within him; fear, pain, rage,
confusion, and countless others. Desperate for a way out, he ran to the
nearby wall, hoping to get past it to somewhere safe.
        Gosunkugi cleared the wall in one bound, only to find a swirling
mass of space beyond it. Looking back, he found that Furinkan was gone,
replaced by the white void. He began to fall toward the center of the
massive vortex, a scream blasting forth from his chest...

=========================

        Gosunkugi awoke with a start, gasping for breath as he stifled a
scream. He lay on the floor of the alley, taking in deep breaths as his
heart begn to slow. The adrenaline that raced through his veins began to
thin after a few moments, leaving him somewhat drained.
        "What a nightmare," Gosunkugi said as he rose to his feet. The
shadows in the alley had lengthened considerably since he had passed out,
meaning that he had lost a few hours at least. Looking up, he saw the sky
had a reddish-gold tint.
        //Great!\\ he mentaly cursed, //It's almost sunset! The train's
already gone by now!\\ Still cursing, he began to make his way to the mouth
of the alley.
        As he walked, Gosunkugi noticed that something felt odd. The pain
from the beating he'd recieved earlier was completely gone. In fact, it was
almost as if he'd never been jumped at all. There was something else strange
as well, though he couldn't quite pinpoint it. He felt almost as if his
balance was better somehow, improved. He felt... stronger somehow.
        While he was pondering these strange things, he stepped blindly into
the street. He didn't notice his mistake until the blaring horn of a car
pierced his ears. Looking up, he saw a Daimler-Benz bearing down on him.
        "SHIT!" he yelled as he jumped backward, out of the speeding car's
path. The leap took him clear of the car, and the curb, even the sidewalk.
He watched the car speed off into the distance, wondering what his problem
was. Once the shock wore off, however, he noticed that the view he had was
quite wrong.
        Looking down, his heart caught in his throat when he saw the
sidewalk several feet below him. Stunned, Gosunkugi looked around, wondering
what was holding him up. After a few moments, he realized that he was, in
fact, adhered to the wall.
        His legs were in a kneeling position, the bottom of his feet
touching the rough stone surface of the building behind him. Curious, he
touched the wall with his hands. He felt them stick to the surface,
adhereing snugly to the wall. He pulled his right hand away, the hand coming
off easily. He repeated the procedure with the other hand with the same result.
        //What is going on, here?\\ Gosunkugi asked himself as he crouched
on the wall like a human spider. Looking down, he saw some people moving
about below him. It appeared that they hadn't noticed him yet. Gosunkugi
decided to keep it that way, turning effortlessly to climb upward.
        Arms and legs moving quickly, Gosunkugi scaled the side of the
building without any effort. His hands and feet never slipped, sticking to
the surface securely as he made his way up.
        As he climbed, a window opened next to him. Stopping for a second,
he saw a woman in a cleaning outfit lean out, a cigarette in her mouth. Her
face froze for a second, head turning toward him.
        "Uh... Lovely weather, huh?" Gosunkugi said lamely as the cigarette
dropped form the woman's mouth. A scream followed a second later,
threatening to split Gosunkugi's ears. Grimacing, he propelled himself to
the side, clearing the alley he once lay in and landing on the side of
another building. Launcing himself sideways again, he did a quick somersault
before sticking to the surface a third time. Wasting no time, Gosunkugi
crawled to the top of the building.
        "What the hell happened to me?" he asked as he crouched on the ledge
several stories above the pavement below. He felt as though he had gained a
whole new equilibrium, crawling up the buildings and leaping the way he did
felt almost natural, as though he had been doing it all his life.
        //Maybe when that spider bit me,\\ he thought, //could it be...?\\
Curious, he stepped onto the roof, searching for something to test his
strength out on. Stumbling across a likely section of pipe, Gosunkugi picked
it up. It was a little longer than his forearm, and almost as thick.
Grabbing both ends, he bent the pipe into a U-shape easily.
        Hikaru Gosunkugi stared into the sunset, wondering what gift had
been bestowed on him by the Kami.

================================

        "You've certainly given that little man enough big toys to play
with," said the man in the three-piece Armani. He sat across the desk from a
man concealed in shadow, his outline suggesting considerable power.
        The office itself was tastefully decorated in dark tones, mahogany
wood mostly. The setting sun cast its golden light through the large window
on the far side of the office.
        "If he can deliver on this NeoGenics project," the shadow said in a
deep, smooth voice, "imagine the possibillities." The shadow pressed a few
buttons on his desk, a large monitor flickering to life on the wall opposite
him.
        On the monitor were several images. The images were of people
fighting, a pigtailed boy in a red Chinese shirt fighting another in a
yellow tunic and holding an umbrella. Another was an image of a tall Chinese
girl with purple hair. Another image was of a girl with short, black hair in
a yellow gi. A boy with long black hair and a woman with long chestnut hair
occupied two more sections of the screen. Lastly were images of a kendoist
and a black-haired woman wieldign a rhythmic gymnastics ribbon.
        "With that kind of genetic engineering technology, coupled with the
proper subjects, I could begin building an army the likes of which the world
has never known. Japan will reclaim its rightful place among the nations of
the world..."
        "With you as the next emperor?" the other man interrupted.
        "You read my mind, Kazuo," the large shadow replied. "And why not? I
am not called the Kingpin for nothing, you know."

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        I would appreciate any and all comments on this. If anyone would
like to join up with me to build this into a decent fic, just let me know.

        Thanks!

Jed