Hmm. Definitely original alright, but how on earth to set it up?

<long pause>

Well, here's one way...



Once again, Akane had been captured by a foreign prince.

Once again, Ranma had gone to rescue her.

For the first time, it didn't /quite/ work...

Ranma and Prince Amaru paused their fight for a moment, breathing
heavily. Faintly, the sounds of the rest of the rescue party fighting
the prince's retainers echoed in from outside. Somehow they'd managed
to both stay inside and not destroy the old, overgrown temple Amaru had
chosen to meet Ranma. Akane was still shackled against the ancient bronze
disk the temple's builders had set in one wall, and Ranma had managed to
work his way around so that he was quite close to her, but he didn't dare
turn his back on the prince to free her. He was also swaying slightly on
his feet.

Akane couldn't believe it, Ranma was actually LOSING the fight to free
her! "Come on Ranma! You may be a jerk sometimes but you've never let me
down before!"

Ranma just gritted his teeth and tried to force his head to stop ringing.
<Damn, this guy hits harder than Ryoga! And where the hell is pig-boy
anyway? Trust him to get lost circling around to the back of the temple...>

He allowed the slight weave he'd developed after Amaru's last kick had sent
him face-first into the cieling to pull him to the left, just slightly out
of posisition. The prince took the bait and lept to the attack, but Ranma
wasn/t there. Instead, he dodged right while Amaru was in the air, then
focused his remaining energy into the Tenshin Amaguriken, battering the
prince from the side and behind before he culd recover.

Just then, the back wall of the temple exploded in a shower of debris.
Prince Amaru was trown to the entrance, while Ranma staggered backwards,
stumbling up against the matching bronze disk on the wall opposite Akane.
Ryoga jumped through the cloud of dust, shouting, "/Now/ I'll save you
Akane! <mumbled> It's a good thing Xia Feng hit me up here or I might have
been too late <louder> but now I'm here and you're --

Ryoga was cut off by the swirls of light gathering around the bronze
plaques. Lightninglike red tendrils of energy grabbed Ranma and pulled
him up to the center of the disk.

"Hey what the heck's goin' on Ryoga this has got to be your fault
aaaaaAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!" Ranma ranted as the energy intensified
and wrapped around him. <Feels like it's burning into me!>

Across the room, a white radiance had surrounded Akane, lifting the
strain off her arms, which had begun to tire supporting her weight in
that awkward position. She gasped in surprise. "Ano? What's going ...
on... I.... " Her eyes slipped closed as she began to fall into a
trance. The shackles glowed white for a moment, then faded away to
nothing, and she hung suspended like a goddess, radiant and beautific.

Ryoga gaped from Akane to Ranma then back to Akane, then dashed over to
the still gasping prince and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck.
"WHAT'S HAPPENING TO HER YOU JERK!?!"

Eyes bulging and feet kicking aimlessly, Amaru gasped out "Happening?
Oh no, the  temple's magic... It was supposed to be ME... "

Ryoga whacked him a few ties. "WHAT?!? _WHAT WAS SUPPOSEd TO BE YOU?!?_"

Unfortunately, the prince had finally been knocked unconscious and
couldn't answer. Ryoga tossed him out the doorway and ran to Akane,
grabbing her ankles and trying to pull her away from the bronze - now
looking a  lot more like gold - disk. Across the room, ignored and by
now making no sound, Ranma was little more than a person-shaped red
glow, the last of his outfit burning away and falling off.

Tug as he might, Ryoga couldn't budge Akane from her place, and the
glow surrounding her began to tingle as he tried. Suddnely, the mystic
energies doulbeld their glow, and Ryoga was trown aside like an empty
banana peel, looking scorched and wth his hiar stright on end. Akane's
eyes opened again, releasing twin shafts of bright, white light that
seemed to pierce him through and through, as he crawled back towards
her. The red mass of energy that had been Ranma pulsed three times and
then flashed across the room to be caught in her arms, forming a
swirling, whirling ball, then absorbed into her abdomen. The  glow
around her snapped off like someone had thrown a switch, and she fell
to the tsone floor in a heap.

"Akane!" Ryoga choked out, finlly regaingin his feet. "NOOO!" He
painfully made his way over to her and cradled her against his body.
"I must find out what this temple has done to her!"

--=-+-=--

<What's going on? Why am I hovering here over Akane and Ryoga? Oh god
am I dead? No, I can feel... something... but it's like I'm in the
same place as she is.. Damn that Prince.. Prince... What was his name?
And where'd he go, anyway? I'm sure I saw what Ryo... Ryo... Pigboy
there did with him... Why can't I remember stuff? Got to hang on...>






Pretty much the only bit that's not in the text above is that Prince
Amaru wasn't capturing Akane to be his BRIDE, but to be his MOTHER -
a person, erm, implanted? by the temple gains the strength of the
mother as well as thier own, which he's probably used two or three
times already to be tough enough to almost beat RANMA - even if Ryoga
hadn't burst in just then, he still might have won. The side effect
is that the reborn person has to fight to keep thier memories for
nine months or lose who they were, and still doesn't remember for a
few years regardless. He'd lose interest in Akane immediately since
she's now ineligible, but the other (former?) Ranma-chasers whould
probably be in danger. It's likely that Amaru and his kingdom are
ancient enemies of the Amazons.

No doubt Akane would ask Cologne if there's any way to get Ranma back,
she'd know these things (or be able to find out) and tell her that all
she has to do is wait a few months and things will proceed natuarally.
Not wanting to be dishonored or have chibi-Ranma be born out of
wedlock, she'd probably marry someone fast-fast-fast, with Ryoga being
the most likely from my point of veiw, since he already knows what's
happened, and the only other local Akane-chasers are either wimpy or
Kunou; she's made her opinion of Tatewaki quite clear and I don't
really see Akane going for anyone who's not a fighter.

Of course, all this is only a /possible/ interpretation, to be taken
with however much salt by whatever skilled person might try to actually
write the whole story - this is as much as I'm good for.

                                     -CrystalDrogn

--
_____________  ___    ___  _____________
\_________   \ \  \__/  / /   _________/    turned into living crystal in a
I'm \______   \__~o\/o~__/   ______/     terrible accident involving sour
the     \_________\  /_________/       cream and salsa pork rinds.
winged     A A R D || V A R K       "Wake up and smell the catfood!" - TMBG