Random 1/2 (revised version) by Gregg Sharp ===== based on Rumiko Takahashi's situations/char other char TM various other sources credited in the chapters they appear. standard disclaimers apply. Metroanime@aol.com http://members.aol.com/greggsharp/index.html 1a: Random Entry ------------------------------------------------------- Shen Long's appearance had gotten Toltiir thinking. What if... The Bet was over, fini, done with. A story of a little boy growing up with a faerie companion was being told over there. Here, watching timelines that had seemed so promising fade back into their mainlines, losing those qualities that had made them different. "Like shooting stars, each has their own beauty which shines for a moment then fades away." Toltiir looked up, not surprised to see Baldur. This was the Norse sector, after all. "I'm surprised that you didn't make an entry. It would have been interesting..." Baldur shrugged. "I'm sorry, but as everyone keeps telling me, I haven't been the same since I died." "That _does_ tend to change one," Toltiir agreed. "So what did you come for?" "To look at one of the entries, and wonder." "Which one?" Toltiir indicated the few remaining, whose degree of difference was such that they'd plod along for some time before rejoining a main timestream. "The one where Ranma's soul was transferred at the moment the cats killed him in the Nekoken to a... replacement you just happened to have handy." Baldur smiled slightly. -----------Dragonball Universe "Earth"---------------- Doctor Gero prepared to flush his latest experiment. Sixteen through Eighteen were prepared, though the last two were incubating. Cel was a slower development, but would continue without any input from his end. An earlier project, though, had hit a snag. Son Goku, Doctor Gero's frequent opponent, had developed a devastating energy ball attack. Some of that energy had been leached away and had been used in this grand experiment. A new type of bio-soldier, one that used DNA samples from Gero's own enemies. A bio-soldier that could potentially use his enemies' own tactics and powers back on them! Unfortunately, the child incubating in Tube R was insufficient in power level to be of use. Even worse, he was insufficiently mindless to be counted on as a good little monster. Somewhere, perhaps from the samples of tissue that he had painstakingly gathered, a resistance to certain aspects of the programming could be found. Doctor Gero pulled the switch. A Dimensional Shunt flushed the failure away. ------------------------------------- Genma was more than a little surprised at returning home to find his wife had found and adopted a child in his absence. That the child had mysteriously appeared at the very moment that Ranma had died in the pit of cats was noted by Genma. A single metal tag on the ID Bracelet read "Random" which sounded close to Ranma. Genma sought to return to the Nekoken training, so as not to lose anymore time. Nodoka disagreed. She was firm, she was polite, she indicated that feeding her son to a large number of starving animals was not precisely what she wanted out of this training idea. They compromised. Shorter training trips, and Ranma would go to school in between them. ------------------------------- March 5,1992: "Mom's gonna kill you for this, y'know." Ranma poured hot water over himself, continuing to glare at the panda while doing so. He reluctantly handed the pot over to the panda after changing. The panda transformed back into Genma. "Not only me, boy. How do you think she's going to take having her darling son show up as a daughter?" Ranma shrugged. "I'd go find out, but there's no way I'm gonna carry you all the way back to Japan, old man." The Guide walked a little quicker. "Here sirs, we come to rustic village of Amazon womans, Nichieju. You watch, sirs, today is day of fighting tournament." "" "" Genma sighed, sure that he was being talked about again. Then he caught sight of the banquet and all other thoughts fled. He didn't even notice when he tipped over the eggs that the cold water was sufficient to change him back into a panda. Ranma glanced at the two women on the Challenge Log and determined their power levels. "A 58 is fighting a 12? This is gonna be over quick." The winner started stalking forward when Ranma realized that "baka oyaji" had done it again. "" Ranma held up a hand. "" "" The girl's eyes blinked. "" Ranma gestured to the log. "" Shampoo settled into position on her side of the log. The arrogant male had somehow gotten to his side of the log first and was waving at her with a cocky grin on his face. Shampoo could barely restrain herself from racing over and pummelling him BEFORE the referee could drop her arm. Before the referee's arm had gone halfway down, Shampoo was racing across the log and repeatedly slammed her bonbori home against this unmoving male. It slowly penetrated that the male wasn't moving even under her assault. Shampoo took two steps back and stared at the dented surfaces of her maces. "" said Ranma, turning his smile up a notch. He thought he might as well give them a show, if nothing else it might remind his father not to try anymore crap like those springs. Ranma slipped into a basic horse stance and raised chi. Golden fire snapped into an aura around Ranma, and everyone sensitive to chi manipulation in the valley had alarms going off as a result. Ranma raised his right arm and pointed the palm of that hand at Shampoo. Shampoo blinked, her jaw open. Having something against shooting fish in a barrel, Ranma moved his aim slightly before releasing the blast. Shampoo blinked again as a glowing white softball of energy whipped past her. Too late, she tried to brace herself as the slipstream pulled her off the Challenge Log. The audience watched as the chi-ball went through three roofs and tunnelled into a mountain before exploding. The audience turned back to see the boy leap off the Challenge Log, grab up the panda, and fly off. Shampoo got up, dazed. "" Cologne sighed. "" "" "" "" "" came a correction from one of the impact sites. "" That a lot more than five amazons left the village abruptly was a subject for conversation for days. Cologne frequently made the observation that amazons in HER day had more dignity. Past behavior with Happosai notwithstanding. ---March 10,1992----------------------- "Saotome, my old friend!" Soun began to move for the door, only to have to step aside as Nabiki moved quicker despite her kimono. Nabiki opened the door, stepping out to see what this Ranma might look like. Her eyes widened. "Y-y-you wouldn't happen to be Ranma...Saotome?" For the first time in years, Nabiki's mind froze. Tall, handsome, with a tight musculature that spoke of raw power and endurance. He was screwing the lid back on a thermos, but met her eyes and nodded slightly. "Yes, I'm Ranma." Nabiki's eyes roamed over the form of this boy. BIG. He had to be 6'7" at least, and had shoulders that an American Football player might have envied. He held himself with a grace and confidence beyond anything that the boys at school would have dreamed of. Nabiki was vaguely aware of this same boy gently reaching out and guiding her jaw up from where it had been hanging. Nabiki was vaguely aware of the two fathers talking behind Ranma. They weren't as important as the look of concern on Ranma's face. "Hi," Nabiki managed when she could get her mouth working again. "I'm Nabiki, your new fiancee. Pleased to meet you. Is next weekend too early for the wedding?" Ranma smiled and reached out to grab his father's shoulder. "Oyaji, is there something you'd like to tell me about?" ----------------------------- "So, I'm supposed to marry one of your daughters?" Ranma sighed. It was going to be one of THOSE days. "What were you selling me for THIS time, Oyaji?" "It's an agreement of honor between two families," Genma said gravely. "An arrangement made before any of you were born." "Well, even with the curse..." Nabiki found the change a bit revolting, but knew that there was always a pricetag. And his uncursed form was TOO cute. "He's going to inherit the dojo, just like that? That's not fair, Dad." Akane looked over this guy. So he was big and tough-looking. Big deal. She could take him on. Kasumi glanced from Nabiki to Akane and decided she didn't stand a chance. She was too housewifely to compete here. Maybe later. "So you study kempo?" Ranma asked, wondering why the youngest girl seemed angry. He hadn't chosen her, he hadn't actually chosen ANYONE. Maybe she regarded the dojo as her rightful inheritance. "I'm pretty good at it, too." Akane paused. "For the Anything Goes dojo, I challenge you." ------------------- Akane attacked with a whirlwind of kicks and punches, an attack that would have been more than sufficient against the crowd of boys at school. The boys at school had two problems that Ranma did not. One was a lack of skill at fighting that the vast majority of the challengers had. Second was a reluctance to actually strike the woman you were trying to date. In the first case, Ranma had considerable skill at fighting. The second was that he had no intention of actually hitting the girl, merely demonstrating his own skill and abilities. After all, while attending school there were always challenges from the guys, and once it was demonstrated that you were quite capable of beating them and their friends up they left you alone. Same principle, reasoned Ranma. "Stand still!" Akane tried another series of punches, only to see Ranma flowing around them with a speed and grace that you wouldn't expect from such a large person. "Like this?" Ranma stood his ground and let the uppercut connect. The sooner she learned, the better. Akane used every bit of strength she had in the uppercut she slammed into Ranma's jaw. The jaw barely moved. Nabiki and Kasumi both winced at a sound reminiscent of someone sitting down on a pile of corn flakes. Ranma went off to the corner. "You're pretty good, nowhere near as good as I am, but you're pretty good. Let me know when you want to try this again." He left the dojo, saying something about needing a bath after all this. Akane bit her lip and tried not to cry. "Kasumi?" "Yes, Akane? Oh dear." Kasumi took in how pale Akane had turned, the tears forming in her younger sister's eyes, the way she was holding the one hand. "I think it's broken." "I'll go talk to Ranma," said Nabiki after a moment. "I don't think he knows his own strength." "Get a bath, Akane," Kasumi wrapped Akane's hand with a set of splints. "After you're done, I'll take you to see Doctor Tofu." ------------------------------------ Akane glared at Ranma. "You PERVERT!" "I don't see what you're so upset about," Ranma shrugged. "It's not like you've got anything I'd want to see anyway. Both of your sisters are better looking than you. Heck, even my cursed form is better built!" Akane grabbed the table, and one-handed, smashed it down onto Ranma's head. Little pieces of table rained down from the impact. Ranma glared at her. "I hope you don't think that _I_ am going to clean this up!" ------------------------------------------- Where to go? Power level: Ranma is about the level of power of Son Goku (end of Dragonball, before the beginning of DBZ) with Piccolo's regenerative abilities. He can fly, do chi attacks (basically a high powered hadoken, doesn't know the kamehameha), summon ki to form as a shield, and analyze an opponent's power output/sense chi ability. He's been attending all boys' schools, as his father wanted to reduce female influence on him. As a result of this (and possibly the influence of his genetic structure) he's pretty clueless around women. He's not that opposed to the engagement, if it's a matter of honor-fine. On the other hand he doesn't really know what an engagement means. The only married couple he's ever been around has been his parents, and this is hardly a good model for him. Problems: Quite a few actually. He has more women after him than in TOS, also more enemies. He feels a need to find/fight more powerful opponents. No respect for his father. Because of unusual hair/eye color, he's seen as being an "ai no ko" or half-Japanese child. Faces a considerable prejudice as a result. Why more women? He's a straight A student, has an eidetic memory (when he uses it) who's tall, strong, broadshouldered, etc. Leaps tall buildings with a running start, etc. Plus Genma has done the Ukyou sort of thing more often as a petty revenge against the child who has upset all his carefully laid plans. Why more enemies? When he DOES lose his temper, it's not safe to be anywhere near him. "Hurricane Ranma" starts lowering property values. Genma has also done a few things like selling him to Mishima Heavy Industries as a prototype combat android. Mishima HI has realized that his body is some sort of bio-roid though they want to keep the details secret until they've got the patents in place. And, of course, Doctor Gero can always come by to collect his prototype. Kuno: no threat, same as in TOS. Kasumi: Ranma is definitely NOT a boy. He's strong, capable, used to giving a hand with the chores, and quite well-read. She's at least a LITTLE interested. Nabiki: The True Fiancee of this alternate. Took her opportunity and RAN with it. Doesn't like to see Akane trying to date Ranma or Kasumi get interested. Akane: attracted in spite of herself. Breaks her foot kicking him in the crotch for being a pervert. As casual violence is denied her, she starts actually thinking about things rather than just reacting. Ukyou: There was Genma, running off with the yatai, after having drank the money Nodoka gave him. Ukyou waving and crying, running along behind. Ranma hears and gets Ukyou and the two are both on the top of the yatai before Genma realizes what's going on. Nodoka very calmly gives the yatai back to Mister Kuonji and dissolves the engagement as is her privledge as Ranma's mother. Ranchan and Ucchan are buddies. Ucchan WANTS to be a fiancee. Doesn't think any of the Tendo daughters are good enough for Ranma, and why can't he think of her as a girl? Shampoo, Cologne & Assorted Amazons: Cologne wants his genes added to the tribe. Shampoo wants that hot body all to herself. There's a few other Amazons with varying degrees of Shampoo and Cologne's motivatiions. ja ne, gregg