Mushroom Madness by Gregg Sharp ===== a story within "The Bet" story arc STANDARD (c): Ranma 1/2 is (c) R.Takahashi. Many thanks to the fine people at Viz and Shogokukan for bringing this series over. ----------------- The Bet continued, as others entered the gamble. The price, a tiny amount of power, almost insignificant for each of the contributors. Together however, that force was accumulating mightily. "So what was Juan's attempt, anyway?" Morgan Shades, god of beer, attempted to ignore Takahashi's physical appearance. She was currently wearing her 'Cupid' guise. "You remember the love bracelet?" "Yeah," Morgan shuddered. "You don't mean..." "Yup. Akane swallowed the Permanent pill. Confessed her undying love to Ranma, and the two decided that what they REALLY objected to was their parents. They ended up eloping, wandering the globe and learning special fighting techniques and attacks until Akane got pregnant, then Ranma and Akane came back to Nerima and became part of a special section of the Tokyo police department dealing with supernatural menaces and the like." "Damn. All that from a single involuntary reflex where she swallows one pill?" Morgan shook his head. "Gonna be difficult to beat that, but I think I gotta idea." ----------------------------------- "Got you," said Ranma, tossing the dim sum with the posthypnotic mushroom into Shampoo's mouth. He tossed the container behind him and snapped his fingers. "Go home Shampoo." "Ok," Shampoo said cheerfully. Considering what Ranma COULD have done, Shampoo knew she was getting off easy. "Bie bie!" "So it was true," Akane said. There was a flicker in the timeline as motion caught Akane's eye. The lid of the dimsum package had moved in a slight breeze, drawing her attention to the container and its contents. "Of course it was true!" Ranma shouted in frustration. "Why don't you ever believe me?" Akane sneezed. They both waited for a moment to realize that the command had worn off and Ranma no longer glomped anyone who sneezed. "Well, maybe I'd believe you more often if you told the truth more often!" Akane ran forward as if to strike Ranma. Ranma, predictably, was no longer there. Smiling at how easily she had manipulated Ranma, Akane went back and gathered up the package and its contents. There were three of these drugged dimsum left. Now, maybe she could get some answers. ---------------------- They were still alone, and would be for the rest of the night. Akane thought this a perfect opportunity. A snoring Ranma was easily forcefed one of the mushrooms. Akane then kicked the sleeper awake. "Huh? What!" "You will answer my questions completely and honestly, then forget you did so." Akane had spent hours working the right phrase out. "What? Akane, what did you do that for?" "Ranma, why are you always trying to make me angry?" Ranma's expression went blank. "Because I can't deal with my feelings for you. Angry is easier for me to handle than when you're being all kawaii." Akane watched as the blank expression went to confused as he forgot what he had just said. What he had said, though, had puzzled her. "What are these feelings for me that you have so much trouble dealing with?" "I-I-I think I lo-lo-love you." Even under the compulsion, Ranma was having trouble saying it. Akane sat back, confused. She hadn't quite expected THAT response. "You've got a strange way of showing it." "Showing what? Akane, was there something you wanted?" "Never mind, Ranma." "Do you love me?" "Yes." Akane stared at Ranma. She wished she had time to think about this before continuing the questions, but she didn't know how long the dim sum's influence would last. The first one had apparently lasted hours, but some medications had less effect with repeated doses as the body built up a tolerance. "So if you love me, why do keep attacking poor P-chan?" "P-chan is Ryouga." "WHAT?!?!!!" Ranma looked startled and a little nervous. "I didn't do nothin'! What is it now, Akane?" "What do you mean P-chan is Ryouga?" "P-chan is Ryouga's cursed Jusenkyo form." "And WHY didn't you tell me about this?" "It's 'cause I gave my word. 'Sides I'm kinda responsible for him getting his curse." "Why are you responsible?" "He showed up four days late for our duel. If I'd waited a fourth day he wouldn't have followed me to Jusenkyo. If I hadn't been chasing Pop around the cliffs Ryouga wouldn't have been knocked in." "Urrrrrrr. RYOUGAAAAAA!" "Uhm, Akane? Why are you in my room?" "Oh, just wanted to talk to you, Ranma. We never seem to have the chance with anyone else around." "Oh yeah, I guess." "So what exactly are your feelings for Shampoo?" "I'd prefer it if she wasn't always glomping me, but having someone affectionate towards ya is kinda nice. Sure beats being beat on all the time. I'd prefer it if she was just a friend, but I don't wanna hurt her and I'm kinda unsure about what a flat out reject would do to her with those weird amazon laws." "And why do you care?" "I care about a lotta people. Don't really like hurtin' anyone." "Why don't you just avoid Shampoo?" "Try to. Not easy. She's got that glomp down real good." Akane yawned as Ranma came out of the latest trance. "Well, Ranma, this was a nice little talk we had. We may have to do this again sometime." "Huh? Whatta ya mean?" "Nevermind, Ranma, nevermind." Akane had a LOT to think about. She had to sort out her own feelings about all this, and figure out what to do about P-chan. Akane closed the door to her room. She still had two of those dim sum. They wouldn't keep forever. A thought DID occur to her, but Nabiki wouldn't be back till tomorrow. Maybe they'd last till then. ------------------------- Ranma stared at the door. What had Akane wanted? Do what again? He sighed, that kawaiikunee tomboy just seemed to have a gift for confusing him. ------------------------- Nabiki woke up, an odd taste in her mouth. "Akane, what are you doing here at this hour?" "Is there anything you won't do for money?" Akane had used the same posthypnotic phrase. Nabiki had to answer honestly, completely, and then forget both question and answer. "No." Nabiki scratched her head. What WAS Akane doing in her room anyway? "Are you still selling pictures and stuff of me?" "Yes." Nabiki looked at Akane. "What's going on Akane, if you wanted to talk to me, you could at least say something." "So what have you sold regarding me lately?" Nabiki shrugged. "Just a few photos of you exercising in your gi, sitting in the furo, working out with that cucumber, oh, and I sold your panties to that weird Gosunkugi guy." Akane blinked, her mouth hanging open. Maybe she didn't want to know, after all. "How much did you get?" It was too bizarre. Akane just couldn't deal with it. "2,000 yen for the gi pictures, the furo shots went for 5,000 yen, working out with Mr Cucumber- that was 25,000 yen for the one shot, and the used panties were 50,000 yen." Nabiki smiled happily. "All told last Friday's sales were a good 91,000 yen!" Nabiki shook her head. "Akane, was there something you wanted?" Pale, Akane mumbled an apology for keeping her sister up and left the room. Anger would come later, right now shock was leaving her a little numb. The plan to come back and break all her sister's cameras was born about fifteen minutes later. ----------------------------- Morgan Shades felt strong disappointment as he sped the view along this timestream. "What?!" "What's wrong?" Morgan shook his head and sipped on his "Il Biiru Roso." "Look at this. Akane's insight into why Ranma acts like this didn't help. Instead she takes his affection for granted, and punishes him even worse for every perceived transgression. She treats him with contempt before the end of the year, as he still hasn't been able to say anything about his feelings." "Oh. What's that there?" "This is terrible." Morgan downed the beer, then conjured another one. Being the god of beer has its perks, such as being invited to all the really good parties. "Akane's contempt furthers the rift between the two, and...oh my." "I see it. Ranma elopes...with Shampoo." "Akane marries Mousse? What the hell? Was someone else playing around in my timeline? How the hell did this happen?""Sorry! Sorry! I forgot HE doesn't like the hired help cursing." "What of Nabiki?" "Hmmm? Oh, she gets treated like scum by Akane on a regular basis. Akane never forgives her sister and imagines Nabiki doing even more than she actually does. Nabiki tries to find out what has gotten Akane so angry, but after the wedding to Mousse the two never speak to each other." "Look here, the next generation sees the Saotomes and the Tendos united. Now it includes amazon fighting techniques and hidden weapons style, so the Anything Goes school is stronger, but it got there in a bizarre way." "This was NOT what I intended." Morgan consoled himself with a "Chimay triple bock." "Well, you got to admit, it IS a different timeline." ========================== C&C welcome, just don't bother with the silly manga references. if it's not in the anime or translations that's been released, i have no way to verify what you're saying. ------------------------ NOTE: "The Art" was not part of "The Bet" storyarc,but am including it as one of the possibilities as for the vote for Continuing Series. If i do it, it'll have several changes: the amazon tribe will become a matriarchal clan of lycanthropes (prob weretigers), Ryouga's misdirection/strength/endurance will all be revealed as related to his bloodline descent from a wanderer named Gilgamesh, the ending won't be the same, and all the various stories will be detailed. There will also be a Bob Aspirin style quote at the beginning of each chapter to set the flavor of each storyline. Ja ne, minaasan